MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Russia's GDP grew in March by 0.5% year-on-year after falling by 2.5% in February; in Q1 of 2021, the decline in GDP slowed down to 1.3%, the Ministry of Economic Development reported on Tuesday.

"According to the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, in March 2021, GDP rates for the first time since the end of Q1 of last year went into positive territory and amounted to 0.5% in annual terms (after a decline of -2.5% in annual terms in February, -2.2% in January). According to the results of Q1 of 2021, the decline in GDP slowed down to -1.3% in annual terms (in Q4 of 2020, according to Rosstat, the decline was -1.8%, in 2020 - 3.0% in annual terms)," the report said.

In addition, the ministry revised the data on the GDP decline in February by 0.3 percentage points upward to 2.5%.

The dynamics of Russia's GDP went into positive territory in March 2021 for the first time since March last year, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Polina Kryuchkova was quoted by the ministry's press service. The Ministry of Economic Development considers a further decrease in unemployment to be an important positive trend.