Russian economy fails to reach forecasts, grows by 0.3 pct in January

The Russian economy expanded by 0.7 per cent in January year-on-year after growing by 2.3 per cent the previous month, the Economy Ministry said on Wednesday. Economic growth was lower affected by a slowdown in manufacturing industry and construction. Sales were also weak due to value-added tax increase from January.

The economy growth in January was below the forecasts - the Reuters poll of economists and analysts estimated GDP to grow by 1.5 per cent in January. The ministry also revised its estimate of the gross domestic product in December to 2.3 per cent from 1.9 per cent reported earlier. The statistic service reported this month that the Russian economy grew by 2.3 per cent last year.