Russia seen ending rate cuts in early 2020

Economic growth in Russia is set to gather pace in 2020 along with consumer inflation as the central bank completes its cycle of interest rate cuts in the first quarter of the year, a monthly Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Gross domestic product is on track to expand by 1.2 percent in 2019, according to the consensus forecast of 18 analysts and economists polled in late December, up from the 1.1 percent projected a month ago.

“The year of 2019 was an uneasy one for the Russian economy, although this could be said about all previous years, especially starting from 2014,” Raiffeisen Bank said. The West first imposed sanctions on Moscow in 2014 for its role in the Ukrainian crisis and annexation of Crimea.

“The key theme for the Russian economy next year are national projects and the announced spending of the National Wealth Fund.”

Russian authorities plan to step up state spending on an array of projects, from infrastructure to healthcare, in an attempt to boost sluggish economic growth.