GORKI (Moscow region), September 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian economy grows much slower than in forecasts and state authorities should be ready to different developments, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting on economic issues here on Wednesday.

He urged to examine factors which influence the economy and measures boosting economic growth.

“The situation is quite difficult,” he said, adding that “Economy grows much slower than we forecast and there are several restrictions Russian economy faces over the so-called sanctions imposed on the country by several other countries.”

“In any case, we should be ready for different scenarios,” the prime minister said to participants in the meeting.

In this regard, the premier said that “the economy should be made more competitive.” He proposed to participants in the meeting to scrutinise “different scenarios” from optimistic to quite negative. “We should analyse different possibilities with due account of the current political situation,” he noted.

“We will discuss measures to spur up domestic demand - in investments and among consumers - all factors which presently have an impact on our economy,” he said.

Meanwhile, Medvedev noted that “the World Bank has downgraded its world economic development forecasts.” “So, apart from our problems - structural problems, the impact of sanctions, other factors which have domestic nature, there is also a natural situation which world economic development has brought about,” he added.

Meanwhile, Medvedev gave a good mark to current macroeconomic situation. “In general, our macroeconomic situation is not bad and stable,” he noted, adding that “the federal budget has a surplus now and several industries show quite good dynamics.”

The premier gave agrarian production growth as an example. “This year agrarian business has already increased by 5%. This figure is caused by current harvest and measures of institutional rural support,” he added. Housing construction develops quite well, Medvedev said.

In particular, Deputy Prime Ministers Igor Shuvalov and Arkady Dvorkovich, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Minister of Economic Development Aleksey Ulyukaev, Central Bank Chair Elvira Nabiullina, Sberbank CEO German Gref, VTB Board Chairman Andrei Kostin and Russian presidential aide Andrei Belousov participated in the meeting chaired by the prime minister.