OREANDA-NEWS. The European Commission (EC) has lowered its forecast for Russia's GDP growth for 2019 to 1% compared with 1.5%, which the EC indicated in May this year. This is stated in the European Commission’s autumn economic forecast published on Thursday.

The EC has also adjusted indicators for 2020. Now the European Commission expects the growth of the Russian economy next year at 1.4% compared with 1.8% in the spring forecast. The European Commission also suggests that the unemployment rate in the Russian Federation will be 5.1% in 2019 and 4.9% in 2020.

The European Commission calls the reduction in consumption, the growth of VAT rates, and the slowdown in global economic growth the main factor in the decrease in growth in 2019. In 2020, the situation will gradually recover, in particular, thanks to programs to expand state investments, the EC notes. This trend reflects the global dynamics of growth slowdown. Thus, the EC reduced its forecast for world GDP growth for 2019 to 2.8% from 3.1%, for 2020 - to 3.1% from 3.6%. In the euro zone, the estimate of GDP growth was reduced for 2019 to 1.1% from 1.2%, for 2020 - to 1.2% from 1.5%.

The European Commission also predicts a decrease in US growth: in 2019 to 2.3% from 2.4% and in 2020 to 1.6% from 1.8%. The dynamics in China look similar: in 2019, the forecast for GDP growth was reduced from 6.1% to 6.2%, in 2020 - to 5.8% from 6%.