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

In Russia economic growth has been slowing down as industrial production and investment stagnate. A drop in energy prices and export revenues owing to the expected ‘shale gas price shock’ has cast a dark shadow over Russia’s growth prospects. Together with the persistent crisis in the euro area, all those factors point to the urgency of the attempts to diversify, modernise and restructure the Russian economy. wiiw has revised its GDP growth forecast downwards and continues to expect an unspectacular GDP growth rate during 2014-2015. Simultaneously, the annual CPI inflation will settle down at 5% p.a., the budget will remain balanced and the rate of unemployment stable at some 6%.