MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Investment activity in Russia has been steadily growing since mid-2016, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.
"There are statistics on imports of investment goods, and there are statistics on production of investment goods inside the country. These two indicators show that investment activity has been steadily growing since mid-2016," the minister said.
According to Oreshkin, growth of investment goods import in 2017 reached "around 30% against the level of the previous year." "In terms of domestic production, there is positive dynamics too - much more modest, but also positive," the minister added.
The minister noted that Russia does not need funding from international financial organizations. "Russian economy currently does not really need funding in a form of money, because we have a good balance of payments and capital inflows, so we do not need money as such," he said.
The minister said that the Russian economy does not need financing, but experience and knowledge, which then will be realized in various economic spheres.
Oreshkin also confirmed that the target inflation rate of 4% will be reached in May. "We expect that the level of 4% will be reached in May. The end-of-year estimates do not change. The base scenario is 3.8%, provided the ruble depreciates. Expectations with a stable ruble rate are around 3%," Oreshkin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel.
According to Oreshkin, an optimistic inflation trend was immediately followed by the "absolutely adequate" reaction of the Central Bank that reduced the key rate.
In early April, Oreshkin submitted an updated macro forecast for 2017 and the planning period until 2020. The Russian government considered three scenarios of the forecast - conservative, basic and target - and adopted the so-called base scenario with inflation at the level of 3.8% in Russia in 2017.
The minister also confirmed the forecast of the ruble-dollar exchange rate in Russia in 2017 in the range of 62-63 rubles for a dollar, provided that current oil prices remain.
"Under the current oil prices, the exchange rate should enter the range above 60 rubles per dollar, 62-63 rubles per dollar," he said.
Earlier, the Economic Development Ministry reported that it expects a serious weakening of the ruble to 63-64 rubles for a dollar. In the baseline scenario of the macro forecast until 2020, the ministry expects that the dollar exchange rate at the end of 2017 will be 68 rubles, at the end of 2018 - 70.8 rubles. In the target (positive) version of the macro-forecast, the dollar exchange rate at the end of 2017 is expected at 68 rubles, at the end of 2018 - at 70.3 rubles.