MAGADAN, August 12. /TASS/. Russia’s finance ministry expects a budget surplus of 1.5 to two percent of GDP in 2018 instead of previously forecasted deficit, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said on Sunday.

"The budget surplus is growing. I would like to say that instead of the previously forecasted budget deficit of 1.5% of GDP, as was fixed in the law, we expect a budget surplus of 1.5-2% of GDP," he said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher weekly news roundup on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

"This year, we anticipate a 1.8-2% GDP growth," he said, adding that the second quarter of 2018 demonstrated economic growth dynamics of 1.8%, with upwards dynamics to be further growing in the following years.