Russian Economy Grows in September, Set to Decline Overall in 2016

Russian economy statistics are expected to demonstrate a minor growth over the September period, and a decline of 0.6 percent overall in 2016, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — During a meeting with Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan Kuandik Bishimbayev, Ulyukayev said:

“In September, we still do not have the statistics, but we hope that there will be a slight growth.”

The decline of 0.6 percent is expected in the Russian economy on the basis of overall 2016 results, the minister added.

The Russian economy suffered a setback in 2014, as the ruble lost about half of its value against the US dollar amid low global oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed against Russia on the pretext of the Ukrainian crisis. The country's GDP fell 3.7 percent in 2015, according to the Russian Federal Statistics Service Rosstat.