By Rhod Mackenzie
The Russian economy for the period from April to June, according to preliminary estimates of Rosstat, grew in annual terms by 4.9%. This indicator reflects positive dynamics after a decline of 1.8% in the first quarter of 2023, according to a report released on August 11 by the agency.
The data is based on operational statistical reporting of large and medium-sized enterprises in the non-financial sector of the economy.
“The index of the physical volume of GDP in the second quarter of 2023 relative to the second quarter of 2022, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to 104.9%,” the document says.
A higher figure was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 (+5.8%).
When calculating data on economic sectors, analysts noted the largest growth in the sectors of passenger turnover (+19.8%), wholesale trade (+12.5%), manufacturing (+11.3%), construction (+9.8%), retail (+9%), agriculture (+2.9%) and mining (+1.1%).
Rosstat will present detailed data on GDP dynamics for the second quarter of the year on September 8.
On August 8, Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting on construction issues pointed out that the construction industry creates around 5% of the country's GDP. He stressed that the construction industry is a powerful sector that largely determines the stability of the Russian economy.
On the same day, a round table on the topic “The prospects and growth factors of the Russian economy” was held at the press center of the Izvestia Information Center. According to World Bank estimates, Russia has entered the top five largest economies in the world in terms of GDP - analysts discussed further prospects and factors to counter the effects of sanctions.
On August 5, the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, expressed confidence that Russia's GDP would show growth of more than 2% by the end of the year . At the same time, he stressed that the department is currently at the stage of forming a forecast.
The Bank of Russia at the end of July improved the forecast for GDP . The regulator assumes that economic growth this year will be in the range of 1.5-2.5%. Thus, in the 3rd quarter, the increase may be 3.6%, and in the 4th - 1.5%.
This article originally appeared in Russian at iz.ru