Russian imports have risen from lows but still down 40% - minister

MOSCOW. June 29 (Interfax) - Russian imports have risen from their lows, when they fell 50% compared with their January-February levels, but are still down 40%, especially for investment goods, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said at the Russian Union Industrialists and Entrepreneurs congress.

"Our imports have also moved away somewhat from their lows. We had a bar of minus 50% [relative to January and February levels] and now it is minus 40%," he said.

"In general, we understand that there is a rather big gap, and it is probably mainly consumer imports that are recovering, while the imports that we primarily need are interim or investment goods, here we see that the recovery is much more difficult," he said.