Russia's second-largest lender VTB said the sanctions-hit economy and militarization is likely to slow next year, and bank profits will fall, and the benchmark interest rate could rise to 23 percent by the end of this year. He predicted that GDP growth would slow to 1.9 percent in 2025, exceeding the International Monetary Fund's forecast of 1.3 percent. The government expects the economy to grow by 3.9 percent this year.
According to the bank, the nearly three-year war and the imposition of a large number of sanctions make Russians live in a completely unusual situation, because a third of the state budget goes to the military.
Source (Al-Arab Newspaper of London, Edited)
