Russia growth up to 1.1% in September from zero

Russia’s GDP growth accelerated to 1.1 percent last month which marked an economic revival from the flat growth last year, the Ministry of Economic Development has said.

In month-to-month terms, Russia’s GDP grew 0.4 percent in September, marking a turnaround from the decline a month earlier, Oleg Zasov, head of the Macroeconomic Forecasting Department of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, said Monday.

The optimistic figures come at a time when the Russian economy is being hit by falling oil prices and a cheapening ruble.

Between January and September Russia’s GDP increased 0.8 percent, in the third quarter it grew by 0.7 percent, Aleksey Vedev, deputy head of Russia’s Ministry for Economic Development, told TASS.

"The results of the third quarter are satisfying,” he said, “Given the fact that there was a high base in the fourth quarter of 2013, the forecast growth of 0.5 percent seems to be an achievable goal. And with optimistic circumstances it may be even higher," he concluded.

On a less positive note, real disposable income and investment in Russia fell, as the ruble kept on losing value against the US Dollar.

Projections for the capital outflow this year remain at $100 billion.

"The planned revision of the forecast is appointed for December 1, now we are making preliminary calculations and collecting data. Our forecast still remains the same,” Vedev said.

Talking about oil prices, Vedev expects a price of $90-110 per barrel in 2015-2017.

"It’s early to say that we have entered a phase of low oil prices. We share the opinion of the Energy Ministry: it is most likely that in the next three years the price will be around $90-110 a barrel", he said at a briefing.

According to the Ministry’s baseline forecast, the average price of Urals, Russia’s key export blend, in 2014 is expected to be $104 a barrel, and in 2015-2017 $100 per barrel.