Russian economy has worst year since GFC

The Russian economy has had the worst year since the global financial crisis, data shows.

Russia's economy shrank 3.7 per cent in 2015, the worst drop since the depths of the global financial crisis, the state statistics service said.

It came as the country struggled with a drop in the price of its oil exports and international sanctions.

The decline is the sharpest for Russia since 2009, when the world economy was suffering from the effects of a credit crunch and financial crisis.

It matched the most recent prediction from the IMF, which forecasts another fall of 1 per cent in 2016 before a return to 1 per cent growth next year.

The state statistics service also said on Monday that last year saw a 10 per cent drop in retail sales - including a 15.3 per cent plunge in December against a year before - and a one-third drop in foreign trade.

Oil and gas contribute around half of Russian state revenues and the government has said it will have to make cuts to the budget for 2016, which was adopted in October and based on an oil price of $US50 per barrel.

Brent crude oil traded above $US31 a barrel on Monday.