Russian GDP up 4.2% in March - Klepach
MOSCOW. April 22 (Interfax) - Russia's GDP increased by 4.2% year-on-year in March 2011, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said at a briefing at the White House following a government meeting on Thursday.
Excluding seasonal and calendar factors, GDP increased by 0.3% in comparison with February.
Russia's GDP grew 4.4% year-on-year in the first quarter as a whole.
March produced a slight growth in investments, Klepach said - 1.5% from February adjusted for seasonal and calendar factors. "There was no surge in March, investment growth was not steady," he said.
Retail trade (adjusted for seasonal factors) was roughly flat with the previous month in March.
Klepach pointed out that construction had begun to grow and that production of domestically made equipment is on the rise. "As a result, we expect that this will produce a serious surge in investment, and then we will move to roughly 6% growth in investments in fixed capital for the year," he said.