21 June 2017, 07:55 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's Central Bank estimated on Wednesday that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was up 1.3-1.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017 and revised the forecast for the third-quarter GDP increase to 1.5-1.8 percent from 1.3 percent previously.
"The increase in investment and consumer demand led to an acceleration of the annual GDP growth rate, which, according to the Bank of Russia, was 1.3-1.5% in the second quarter of 2017. It is expected that in the third quarter of 2017, GDP growth will reach 1.5-1.8%," the Central Bank said in a commentary.
In the previous commentary published a month earlier, the Central Bank expected the GDP growth in the second quarter of 2017 at approximately 0.9-1.3 percent year-on-year. On June 16, the regulator's head, Elvira Nabiullina, said Russia's GDP might increase 1.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.
On July 26, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development said the country's GDP growth had accelerated to 2.7 percent in the second quarter from 0.5 percent in January-March. According to Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin, the ministry's forecast for a 2-percent GDP growth in 2017 "already looks a little conservative."
