MOSCOW: The International Monetary Fund cut its economic growth forecast for Russia on Tuesday, predicting in its World Economic Outlook that Russia's economy would contract by 1 percent in 2016.

That compares with the IMF's previous forecast of a 0.6 percent contraction made in October, before a renewed slide in oil prices that has further weakened Russia's export earnings.

The growth downgrade follows a similar one by the World Bank, which predicts Russia's economy will contract by 0.7 percent in 2016.

Copyright Reuters, 2016