Russian economy heading to stable growth – Lagarde
November 23, 2016, 10:37 am

Oil prices continue to waver below $50 a barrel, slowing prospects for Russia’s economic recovery [Xinhua]

Lagarde had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, which ended on Sunday.

According to Russian officials who attended the meeting, Lagarde said that Russia could be on the path to sustainable recovery but said the banking sector needed to do more to encourage lending.

But a state statistics report from Rosstat showed that retail sales had fallen further than anticipated by experts, registering a drop of 4.4. per cent in October year-on-year.

The Rosstat report released earlier this week also showed that capital investment had retreated 2.3 per cent since the beginning of the year while real wages did edge up somewhat, but still below estimates.

While Lagarde’s assessment of the Russian economy appears to reiterate an earlier IMF report which had praised Russian authorities for a string of measures that have helped soften the blow of recession, the latest figures appear to show that recovery may be delayed to a later point in 2017.

Unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent in October from 5.2 per cent in September, Rosstat said.

In the meantime, the IMF says that the decline in the economy has slowed from 1.5 per cent to 1.2 per cent.

“Real GDP is expected to decline by 1.2 per cent in 2016, as consumption adjusts to lower real wages and tighter credit conditions while investment remains weak,” the IMF said.

“Growth is expected to resume in 2017 and reach 1 per cent, as domestic demand slowly recovers on the back of easing financial conditions and pent-up demand,” the report added.

Russian officials are also working with other major oil producers to ease production quotas and boost prices. Russian experts have said that the economy can be sustained as long as oil prices are above $40 a barrel.

Prices have ranged above $45 a barrel in recent weeks.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies