Russia’s state-owned retail banking giant Sberbank has improved its forecast for Russian GDP growth this year to a bullish 3.8%, up from the previous 2.8%, according to the bank’s financial statements released on August 8. Sberbank’s forecast is one of the highest in the market and follows the Central Bank of Russia (CBR)’s recent upgrade to 3.4-3.5% forecast for this year in its last macroeconomic survey in July. If the target is hit then Russia’s economy would growth this year even faster than last year’s result of 3.6% – itself a surprise result, given the extreme sanctions regime, labour s…