Russia: 4 downturns since 2009; the IMF expected none a year ahead
Russia, real GDP, 2009–2025
Every time it expected growth, +3.5% on average. The widest gap: 2009, expected +6.3%, outcome −7.8%.
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GDP growth is how much the volume of everything a country’s economy produced changed in a year, net of price rises. Below zero, the economy shrank. Every April the IMF forecasts the next year; here that forecast is set against what happened.
Blue: GDP growth in the IMF’s latest data, dots mark the years of decline. Orange: what the IMF expected for each year in the April before. The dashed line is zero: below it the economy shrinks.
- 2009: forecast in April 2008 → latest data
+6.3% → −7.8%
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2008 → IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026
- 2015: forecast in April 2014 → latest data
+2.3% → −2.0%
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2014 → IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026
- 2020: forecast in April 2019 → latest data
+1.7% → −2.7%
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2019 → IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026
- 2022: forecast in April 2021 → latest data
+3.8% → −1.4%
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2021 → IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026
A downturn is a year when a country’s real GDP fell (growth below −0.05%, i.e. −0.1% or less once rounded) in the IMF’s latest data (April 2026). The forecast is the April World Economic Outlook of the year before; “expected a fall” means forecast growth below zero. Countries and years 2008–2025 with both a forecast and an outcome.
A year-ahead forecast almost always shows growth: downturns usually come from events not visible a year earlier (crises, commodity price crashes, wars, the pandemic). The IMF will still revise recent outcomes.
A question for this picture
What do these downturns have in common, and could any of them have been seen a year ahead?