New figures from the Russian Statistical Service, Rosstat, show that industrial production in the country was zero in the first part of 2013. Although a certain up-swing is expected in the second part of the year, experts doubt that the government`s projected two percent growth for 2013 will be possible. The weak results come after a longer period of steady decline in industrial output. In 2012, Russian industry grew 2,6 percent.
In the Russian part of the Barents Region, the situation is even more negative. In 2012, only one of the five federal subjects in the region, the Komi Republic, saw its industrial output growing. While the Komi industry produced 2,0 percent more than in 2011, the regions of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk had a decline of 1,4 percent and 4,2 percent respectively. The regions of Karelia and Nenets Autonomous Okrug experienced a drop of respectively 0,3 percent and 10,6 percent.
The situation in 2013 looks equally bleak. Statistics from Rosstat show that a region like Arkhangelsk Oblast in the first part of the year had a downturn in industrial production of as much as 12,2 percent. Murmansk Oblast in the same period had a slight growth of 1 percent, data from the regional branch office of the statistical service shows.
The economic downturn is a result of the companies` reluctance to increase production in a situation with lower demands and higher production costs, newspaper Kommersant writes.
In the period ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, the growth numbers in Russia were radically different. Between 1999 and 2007, the annual industrial growth figures were stabilly above five percent.
