DAVOS, January 23 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian economic growth has made about 3.5% in 2012, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a plenary session of the World Economic Forum here on Wednesday.
“In general, the macroeconomic situation in Russia is quite stable. The economic growth in the previous year reached about 3.5%, the inflation rate – 6.6%,” he said, adding that this indicator is quite good with due account of the drought and a low harvest of crops.
Medvedev recalled that the unemployment rate in Russia is a little bit higher than five percent. This is the best indicator for the last few years and the lowest level among highly developed countries, he said. The prime minister noted that “the source for economic growth was not only the growth of domestic consumption, but also the growth of investments by about eight percent.” “This growth rate is minimally needed for Russia. To reach desired rates of economic growth, we set them at five percent annually, the investments should grow for several years to come just by ten percent every year,” Medvedev added. Therefore, the Russian authorities are interested in the inflow of massive foreign investments, join partnerships for the modernization with other countries, initiate new state programs, which envisage the attraction of private investments, he said.
“Finally, Russia has the absolutely lowest foreign debt of about three percent of GDP. The previous year ended without the budget deficit, major international reserves retained and “the safety cushion” from the funds of the Reserve Fund and the National Welfare Fund to the tune exceeding 500 billion dollars,” the premier said, recalling that Russia passed to the financial planning based on a tough budgetary rule, which means that additional oil and gas revenues, which were obtained thanks to high prices, will be saved. These funds will be used only in the period of low prices on the raw materials.
Medvedev noted that these indicators are not the reason for self-complacency. “The growth is getting slower, this is obvious,” he said. “The instability in the global economy persists. The hopes for overcoming the crisis without the settlement of amassed financial and regional misbalances most apparently did not come true. Despite all the efforts, the post-crisis restoration everything is still unstable, the recurrence of critical phenomena and the global recession are quite probable,” Medvedev underlined.