Russian central bank cuts 2015 economic growth forecast to zero

The Central Bank of Russia lowered its growth forecast and raised its inflation estimate for 2015 on Monday due to the effect of economic sanctions from the west.

Though the Russian monetary authority believes that the impact of Western sanctions will weaken gradually from 2015 to 2017, it cut its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2015 from 1% to zero.

Furthermore, the central bank increased its inflation forecast for 2015 to 6.2%-6.4%, from the prior estimate of 4.5%-5.0%.