Last week, Russian Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said Russia's forecast GDP growth for 2009 was 2.4%, while inflation was predicted to be 11% against 13.5% for this year.
According to the ministry's preliminary forecast, Russia's GDP in January-November grew 6.5%.
Dvorkovich said in an interview with Russia's Vesti news channel on Thursday that Russia's unemployment rate in 2009 could return to the level of two years ago.
"We expect that following a drop in demand for many goods companies could be forced to resort to layoffs," he said, adding however that "no explosion in unemployment growth" was expected and that the number of jobless would not return to levels seen in the 1990s.
The total number of people registered as unemployed in Russia rose to 1.3 million in November, an 8% increase year-on-year, the Federal Statistics Service said. The total number of unemployed people in the country could be as high as 5 million, the service said.
As part of measures to shore up the Russian economy, the government issued on Thursday a list of 295 companies that will be eligible to receive state support. The list includes companies working in transportation, energy, oil and gas, communications, media and other sectors.
Since the global economic crisis ensnared Russia in the fall, the ruble has weakened significantly despite substantial support from the Central Bank. Next year, Dvorkovich said, the rate of the ruble would depend on the balance of payments, debt repayment and investment.
Nabiullina said the government expected an average ruble exchange rate of 31 or 32 to the U.S. dollar during 2009.
