MOSCOW, August 27 (RIA Novosti) – The Economic Development Ministry has revised downward its GDP growth forecast for the second half of the current year to 2 percent, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said Tuesday.
The forecast for the third quarter of the year was downgraded to 1.9 percent from 2.4 percent, and for the fourth quarter to 2.2 percent from 3.4 percent, he said.
Previously, the ministry had already twice lowered its forecast for basic macroeconomic indicators this year and for the next three years.
Russia’s gross domestic product grew just 1.4 percent in the first half of the current year, compared with 4.5 percent last year, the Rosstat federal statistics service said last Monday.
Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said two weeks ago that his ministry expected to neutralize the risk of economic recession by reversing the negative trend in the second half of the year, with GDP growth forecast at 2.4 percent.
