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#19 - JRL 8246 - JRL Home
Doubling Russian GDP by 2010 unlikely - Fitch analyst

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - The goals set by President Vladimir Putin to double Russia's GDP by 2010 and reduce inflation to 3% in the coming years are extremely ambitious but will be very difficult to achieve, Fitch's leading analyst for Russia, Ed Parker, told Interfax.

Parker agreed that the current high oil prices are helping to maintain a high economic growth rate in Russia. However, he said, if oil prices go down, work to double the GDP will be greatly complicated.

As for the prospects for reducing inflation to 3%, Parker said this depends on what timeframe Putin meant. He said it is quite possible that Russia could eventually push inflation down to 3%, but this is unlikely to happen within the next several years and would be almost impossible during Putin's second presidential term.