The year-on-year growth in the first quarter is nearly one percent above the Russian government’s own 4 percent forecast. The figures were presented by the State Statistics Service Rosstat on Tuesday. The positive figures show that Russian economy is not hit by the eurozone recession. So far.
There has been a 7 to 8 percent growth in consumption during the first four months of 2012, mainly driven by higher salaries and boost in governmental spending. Russia’s economy is still highly dependent on export of raw materials. One example is Norilsk-Nickel that counted for one third of all tax-income to Murmansk Oblast last year, as reported by BarentsObserver earlier in May.
The question is how long the growth in Russian economy will last as Europe’s economic outlook darkens. EU is Russia’s biggest export customer.
Inflation in April was 3,6 percent, below last year’s 6,1 percent, the lowest annual rate since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Financial Times reports.
Dmitry Polevoi, economist at ING bank explains to the Moscow Times the impressive year-on-year growth as a result of strong government consumption and a slowdown in import growth, as well as higher inventories.
