Russia economy to grow in first quarter, inflation on track: central bank's Yudayeva

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The central bank holds its next monetary policy meeting on Dec 16.

"We see recently encouraging signs in the economy, recent PMI data was very strong, Rostat has just published its indicator of business sentiment, which was also very strong," Yudayeva said.

"I think there will be positive growth in Q1."

Russia's export-dependent economy sank into recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction, in late 2014, after it annexed Crimea and took a hit from Western sanctions together with falling oil prices.

Growth was flat to slightly positive in the third and fourth quarter of this year, Yudayeva told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an investment conference organized by the Moscow Exchange in London.

Yudayeva also said she was confident the bank's inflation target of 4 percent by end-2017 would be met, but added that inflation expectations were "high and not anchored."

Talking about the bank's oil price forecasts, she said policy makers were due to discuss those in the next two weeks.

She noted that the bank had two scenarios - one of oil prices of $40 per barrel and another one of up to $55.

"The probability of the second scenario has increased somewhat."

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker)