VEB puts Russian GDP growth at 3% in Feb, 3.6% in Jan-Feb

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - Russian economic growth slowed to 3% year-on-year in February from 4.3% in January, but the full impact of the international sanctions against the country will only become evident in March data, the VEB Research Institute said in its monthly monitoring report.

"Compared to the same period of last year, GDP growth in February slowed to 3% from 4.3% in January. The main contribution to the slowdown was the high base of last year. Overall GDP in the period of January-February 2022 grew by 3.6% compared to the same period of last year," VEB estimated.

The Economic Development Ministry has not published its situation report on the economy for the second consecutive month, so there is no official ministry estimate for GDP growth in February. The ministry's website only published an estimate for GDP growth in January, putting it at 6.6% year-on-year, far higher than the VEB estimate.

"The imposition of massive sanctions at the end of the month did not have a significant impact on the economic dynamic [in February]. It will only be possible to see the full effect of sanctions on economic indicators by March statistics," the VEB institute's macroeconomics director, Oleg Zasov was quoted as saying.