World bank ups Russia's 2021 GDP forecast.

Byline: S. Kamal Hayder Kazmi

Russia's economic recovery will be stronger than expected this year but U.S. sanctions, a poor vaccination rate and the central bank's monetary tightening will all weigh on the growth outlook, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

Russia's economic rebound will outpace its neighbour Belarus, hit by Western sanctions amid a political crisis, but will be less pronounced than in other former Soviet republics such as Armenia, Georgia and Uzbekistan.

After shrinking by 3 percent in 2020, its sharpest contraction in 11 years, the Russian economy has recovered...