Russian Economic Development Ministry lowers 2011 GDP growth forecast to 4.1%
MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - The Russian Economic Development Ministry has lowered its 2011 GDP growth forecast to 4.1% from 4.2% and industrial output growth forecast to 4.8% from 5.4% compared to an April forecast, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach told journalists.
The ministry forwarded an adjusted forecast of Russia's socioeconomic development for 2011-2014 to the Finance Ministry for coordination on Friday, Klepach said.
"We expect GDP to grow this year by 4.1%, that is, we have slightly lowered our forecast from the previous estimate [4.2%]. This can be explained by the fact that the effect in the first half of the year was quite low [3.7%]. If you try to anticipate the yearly figure by extrapolating from this one, we will have 3.8%-3.9% growth by the end of the year. But we still presume that there is some potential for growth to be faster in the second half of the year, and the first half's figures could be recalculated as well," Klepach said.