"Domestic demand is gradually recovering. Monetary policy has started an easing cycle, and…we see the Russian economy moving clearly in the right direction," Milesi-Ferretti told reporters.
"The exchange rate has played a crucial role in acting as a stabilizing device," Milesi-Ferretti explained.
He said the big depreciation of the Russian ruble exchange rate allowed containing the fiscal impact of the declining oil prices.
"It has limited the decline in oil revenues when measured in rubles," the economist said.
Milesi-Ferretti noted that ruble’s depreciation was hard for domestic demand, since real incomes declined.
Earlier on Tuesday, the IMF released its Global Economic Outlook that had revised Russia’s growth upward. Russia’s GDP will contract 0.8 percent in 2016 and grow at 1.1 percent in 2017, according to the Fund.