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Economic Minister: Better-than-estimated production to have meager effect on Russian GDP

DAVOS, January 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Industrial production growth of 0.3 percent Russia showed in 2013 will have any significant effect on the expected 1.5- percent GDP growth, Russian Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Ulyukaev told journalists on Friday.

“I think we’ll remain at 1.4 percent. We risked falling to 1.3 percent but now [given industrial production results] we’ll rather see 1.4 percent,” he said.

Ulyukaev added it was a very modest growth, achieved entirely in the extractive industries. He warned against being overenthusiastic the about 0.3 percent increase against the ministry’s latest forecast of 0.1 percent.

In December 2013 industrial production grew 0.8 percent year-on-year and 4.3 percent month-on-month (1.1 percent month-on-month less seasonal and calendar factors) and added 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Positive dynamics were mainly observed in the extractive industries, where the indicator went up 1.2 percent, whereas manufacturing added 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, production and distribution of electricity, gas and water saw a 1.8 percent decline in 2013.

In 2012 industrial production in Russia demonstrated 2.6 percent year-on-year growth. In 2011 it added 4.7 percent. The estimate for 2014 is 2.2 percent.

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