MOSCOW, March 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's gross domestic product is expected to grow by around 7% in 2008, the World Bank said on Monday.

"Russia's GDP is most probably expected to grow 6-7% - closer to 7%, we believe," Zeljko Bogetic, the World Bank's chief economist for Russia, told RIA Novosti.

Bogetic said global economic growth would slow down from 4.9% to 4.1%, according to the latest data of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He said that despite the slowdown on global markets, Russia's economy has continued its strong growth due to the government's macro-economic policy, rising domestic demand, high oil prices and revenues accumulated in the country's Stabilization Fund.

"All these factors suggest that Russia is a haven of stability," Bogetic said.

Russia's GDP increased 7.4% year-on-year in January 2008, the economics ministry earlier said.

In the past five years, the Russian economy has grown at an annual rate of above 7%, except for 2005, when GDP expanded 6.4%. In 2006, GDP grew 7.4%.

According to Russia's State Statistics Service, the country's GDP grew 8.1% in 2007.

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in February that Russia's GDP could grow by 7% in 2008 instead of the planned 6.6%.