Russian Gov't Expects GDP to Shrink by 0.3% in 2016, Grow by 1.4% in 2017

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian government expects the country's GDP to shrink by 0.3 percent in 2016, but the economy is likely to grow in 2017 by 1.4%, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"I already said that the GDP decrease [in 2015] stood at 3.7 percent. This year, the government believes that a minor decrease will remain, but only 0.3 percent. Next year, a growth of 1.4 percent is expected," Putin said during his "Direct Line" Q&A session.