#1
Russian economy posts steady growth
MOSCOW, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Russia's economy will grow by 5.8 percent, Prime
Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Thursday.
As he opened a government session Thursday, Kasyanov told his colleagues
industrial output was expected to grow 5.8 percent by the end of the year.
He added that consultations held Wednesday with finance and economic
development ministers allowed him to forecast a 5.5-percent growth in gross
domestic product.
At the beginning of the year, financial experts said Russia would post a
4-percent GDP growth in 2001. In August, Kasyanov added, industrial output
had already surpassed the 2000 figures by 5 percent.
He said Russia's agricultural sector was also bound for growth as the
forecasts predicted it would end the year with a 7-percent annual growth.
"This year, we have collected 12 million tons of grain more than in
2000,"
he said.
Kasyanov noted the expansion in the investment market as investments
reportedly rose by 6 percent in 2001.
Meanwhile, the first deputy head of Russia's Central Bank, Tatyana
Paramonova, on Thursday said the inflation rate in 2002 would range between
12 percent and 14 percent.
The 2002 draft budget envisioned an inflation rate between 11 percent and
13 percent, but the difference was "not substantial," she said.
