MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian economy will grow at the rate of 2.3 percent in 2016, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Monday.
"Our current [forecast] figures show 2.3-percent GDP growth for 2016," Ulyukayev said in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.
The forecast is based on average oil prices of $60 per barrel, according to the minister.
The Russian economy was set back by a drop in global oil prices in 2014, ruble depreciation and several rounds of anti-Russia economic sanctions imposed by Western countries over Moscow's alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict.
In January, the Russian government unveiled a cost-cutting anti-crisis plan to improve the country's economic situation by 2017.
In mid-June, the Russian Central Bank projected a 3.2-percent contraction of the Russian economy this year, followed by 0.7-percent growth in 2016, to eventually reach a 1.7-2.4 percent growth in the next two years.
