Russia's National Statistics Agency (ROSSTAT) announced that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 2.1 percent last year. While the Ministry of Economy and Development estimated that the GDP would shrink by 2.9 percent, the Central Bank of Russia predicted that the contraction would be 3 percent. After the invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the USA and EU countries took heavy sanctions against Russia. Pointing out that the international economics expert has criticized Moscow for the lack of transparency in a number of economic indicators, especially since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the French News Agency (AFP) stated that, although the reliability of the latest figures by the Russian authorities is questioned, "the Russian economy seems to have resisted the shock of Western sanctions". In its report published in January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised its 3.4 percent regression forecast in 2022 and determined that the Russian economy contracted by 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, ROSSTAT, in April last year, after a 20-year hiatus. The inflation rate, which rose to 17.8 percent with a big jump, remained at 12 percent in January. In a statement made at the beginning of February, the Central Bank of Russia predicted that the inflation rate would be between 5 and 7 percent in 2023, and that this rate would decrease to 4 percent in 2024.