WIIW The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies - Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche

In Russia, the economy has been growing by about 4% per year. Huge fluctuations in prices and inventories are affecting the reliability of GDP growth figures. Inflation has accelerated and remains stubbornly close to 10%. The long-term strategic target of economic diversification and moderniza-tion remains high on the agenda. The wiiw forecast reckons with continued, yet unspectacular, GDP growth over the period 2011-2013. With some luck, inflation may remain in single digits during 2011 and the budget deficit will evolve into a surplus. We have every expectation of President Medvedev being re-elected and the ruling Medvedev-Putin tandem continuing after March 2012.