SOCHI, February 14. /TASS/. Russia still faces unfavorable factors on the world market, including the threat of new sanctions, but it reacts differently, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a plenary meeting of the Russian Investment Forum.

"We still face a number of unfavorable factors. These are trade wars, stronger protectionism, worsening conditions of global trade, a slowdown in the global economy, sudden changes in the prices of oil and other products we export as well as constant threats of expanding sanctions that provoke capital outflow. Of course, all this does not help. But at the same time, our economy responds to all these factors in a different way," he said.

He recalled that last year GDP grew by more than 2%.

"The economic growth has been fixed for the third year in a row, but the quality of this growth does not suit us. It is influenced by many one-off factors, but most importantly, this growth is not yet felt by our citizens," Medvedev said. The head of the Cabinet added that "the growth rate of investments in fixed assets remains below target values," and "there are a number of other unfavorable moments."

Positive factors

Medvedev also marked some positive trends in the Russian economy. According to him, the financial markets and the banking system of the Russian Federation are generally stable.

"Unlike many countries, our current situation is stable. That means that we have a safe level of external debt, which, has decreased over the past year by more than $60 bln, by the way," he added.

The Prime Minister also drew attention to the positive balance of payments, a significant surplus of the federal budget at about 2.7% of GDP, the international reserves, which have grown by $43 bln since the beginning of last year. Also, according to him, unemployment remains at a record low level - about 4.8% of the economically active population.

Medvedev noted that since the beginning of 2019 inflation in Russia has accelerated to 5%, in a year it should return to the target level. "As we expected, inflation at the beginning of the year rose to 5% [in January 2019 in annual terms, according to the Federal Statistics Agency - TASS]. But we expect that in a year it will return to the target level," he said.