HAMBURG, July 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin assumes the country's economy has moved out of recession.

"Russia’s economic growth is obvious, it is definitely safe to say that the Russian economy has moved out of recession," he told a press conference following the G20 summit in Hamburg.

Meanwhile, Putin does not consider the trend of the country’s economic growth to be sustainable so far. "Of course, one cannot say that the trend (of economic growth - TASS) is absolutely sustainable, we have to keep an eye on it in order to support it," he said. "All indications are that we will deal with it," he added.

Speaking about the country's economic performance, President said that the Russian economy has been demonstrating growth for four consecutive quarters already. "In May, Russia’s economic growth exceeded 3-3.1%, and I expect a 2% increase for full 2017," he said.

Russia's economic development plan

Putin assumes that the country’s economic development plan should be based on the government’s proposals, though it can factor in elements of other projects.

"We are currently considering the final variant of proposals on Russia’s economic expansion, starting 2018," he told a press conference following the G20 summit in Hamburg on Saturday, adding that the plan is not ready yet.

According to Putin, "the government has gone to considerable lengths in this area (to prepare the plan - TASS). "We’ll mainly rely on the government’s proposals," he said, adding that other ideas may also be taken into account.

Several groups are involved in the development of an economic expansion plan, President said, including a group headed by Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov, another one headed by ex-finance minister and Chief of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) Aleksei Kudrin, and the government.

"We have to form a plan, which will be acceptable and ideal for further steps in the economy, starting 2018," Putin said. "Probably, this is going to be something based on those three variants instead of only one of those proposed options," he added.

Gas supplies to Europe

The cost of gas supplies to Europe from the United States is incomparably higher than from Russia, Putin said. He added that Moscow expects to gain a competitive advantage.

"I view it (Donald Trump’s statement about the intention of the United States to break the ‘energy monopoly’ in Europe - TASS) very favorably as all benefit from healthy competition. We favor open markets and healthy competition," Putin said. "As of today it is obvious, and any expert will confirm it, that the cost of production and delivery of liquefied natural gas from the US to Europe is much higher than that of our LNG, and can hardly be compared in terms of cost with Russia’s natural gas," he added.

Global economy

Putin said that the issues discussed at a summit of the G20 Group of the world’s leading economies are extremely important and have practical significance.

"The G20 is, first of all, an economic forum, although a lot of political and associated issues arise but still the main theme is the development of the world economy and this is what was in the focus of attention," the Russian president said.

"We agreed on defining the principles of the sustainable economy and this is extremely important for work according to uniform standards," Putin said.

He addad that he assumes the global economy is moving towards growth.

"We almost don’t see any unfavorable trends already, at least trends. There are factors that do not promote economic development, including global economy both in the Eurozone and in Russia, meaning the illegitimate restrictions," Putin told a press conference following the G20 summit in Hamburg. "We favor the removal of any restrictions, free trade, work within the World Trade Organization, within the WTO rules," he added.