04 December 2003 22:42
GDP growth in Russia may exceed 6.5% in 2003 (Part 2)
MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) - Russia's GDP growth will be at a minimum of 6.5% in 2003, Economic Adviser to the
Russian President Andrei Illarionov said at a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
He said year-to-year growth was 6.5% from January-October 2003. "The index may enlarge after the production of
small businesses is assessed in April-May 2004," Illarionov said. "It may go up several dozens of
points."
This year's economic growth is higher than it was a year ago (4.3% in 2002).
Yet, Russia's economic growth is smaller than that of the United States in the third quarter (8.2%) or the GDP
growth of China from January-September (9.1%), which may also increase, Illarionov said.
Russia ranks sixth in GDP growth and ninth in industrial production growth among ten CIS member countries, which the
CIS Statistics Committee monitors, Illarionov said.
"Russia's economic growth has been unsteady and irregular for the past four years," Illarionov said.
Russia tends to falls into stagnation or production decline after several months of growth, he noted.
The economic growth rate slowed down in fall 2003, and industrial production was down 0.1% in October, he said.
Favorable conditions on world markets have contributed to a lot of this year's economic growth, 4% GDP as
compared to 2002, Illarionov said.
"This is a sort of indication of how much other factors have contributed to economic growth in 2003," he
said adding that GDP grew 4.3% last year. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG ECI] te tj <>
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