Russia's economy will contract by less than 3% this year, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said on Monday, as a strong jobs market helps cushion the economy from the fallout from what Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Belousov said Russia's gross domestic produce would fall by "a little more than 2%" this year. That will be followed by a decline of "no more than 1%" in 2023, Belousov predicted.
Some economists were predicting a 15% collapse in GDP this year in the face of Western sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine crisis and designed to cripple the Russian economy.
