MOSCOW, –
The Russian economy will grow by 3.9% in 2024, higher than previously expected and higher than last year, thanks to increased state spending, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told state television on Friday.
The estimate is part of a new forecast for 2024 that is due to be released shortly, following the publication of strong economic data showing that the Russian economy was in good shape in the first half of the year.
“We see that the economy is developing at a faster pace than experts had expected. It indicates that the economy is growing, in part, thanks to the fiscal stimuli we have used both in previous years and in 2024,” Siluanov said.
This year’s economic growth was previously estimated by the government at 2.8%. Last year, the Russian economy grew by 3.6%.
A preliminary estimate for economic growth in the first half of this year stood at 4.6%, according to data published on Aug. 28, compared with 1.8% for the same period last year.
Officials attributed this growth to strong capital investment, including by the private sector, which in the second quarter rose by 8.3% year-on-year to 8.44 trillion roubles , following 14.5% growth in the first quarter of the year.
The new forecast suggests that growth rates are set to fall in the second half, helping the central bank deal with the overheating of the economy that forced the regulator to hike its benchmark interest rate to 18% in July, the highest level in more than two years.
The new growth forecast suggests the economy, driven by military production, is holding up despite Western economic sanctions and problems with international payments with Russia’s major trading partners, such as China.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.