MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the Russian government had taken the necessary measures to ensure economic stability despite Moscow being forced to slash its economic growth forecast for 2026.
New forecasts by Russia's Economy Ministry lowered estimates for gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2026 to 0.4% from 1.3% and cut estimated growth in 2027 to 1.4% from 2.8%. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that growth was expected to reach 2.4% in 2029 however.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that President Vladimir Putin was closely involved in economic issues and that Russia could "talk confidently" of macroeconomic stability despite volatility in global markets driven by the conflict in the Middle East. Another meeting with government officials on the economy was expected this week, he said.
"Thanks to the measures being implemented by our government, we can confidently speak about macroeconomic stability and promising plans to modestly, but steadily, increase economic growth rates year after year," Peskov said.
Russia's $3 trillion economy, hit by the war in Ukraine, Western sanctions, and high interest rates, contracted by 0.3% in the first quarter, marking its first quarterly decline since early 2023 after tax hikes at the start of the year and deep discounts on Russian oil linked to Western sanctions.
Putin last year asked the government to ensure that growth resumed in 2026 and last month rebuked senior officials over slowing growth, telling them to devise new ways to support the economy. Peskov, his spokesman, ruled out any immediate changes to the government due to slow growth, pointing out that the global economy itself was going through a volatile period.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Gleb BryanskiEditing by Andrew Osborn)
