MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s economy is on track to grow more than expected in 2021 but less than previously thought in 2022, the International Monetary Fund said in a report on Tuesday. Russia’s gross domestic product will grow by 4.4% this year and 3.1% next year, compared with the 3.8% growth rate projected in April for both 2021 and 2022, according to the IMF’s latest world economic outlook. The IMF sees the global economy expanding by 6.0% in 2021 and 4.9% in 2022, no change from its previous estimates. After shrinking 3% in 2020, its sharpest contraction in 11 years, the Russian economy has been on the mend thanks to a rebound in consumer demand and high prices for oil, its key export, prompting a series of upgrades to its economic outlook. The latest revision brings IMF’s forecasts closer to that of the Russian central bank, which said last week it expected the economy to grow 4.0%-4.5% in 2021 and 2.0%-3.0% in 2022. Even though Russia’s oil-dependent economy has been recovering robustly in the past few months, a boon for authorities ahead of elections, a surge in COVID-19 cases and the need to raise interest rates to combat inflation may still challenge further growth. Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Paul Simao Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.