MOSCOW, Nov 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Russian economic growth ticked up in the third quarter driven by the agriculture sector, though slightly less then expected by the government, the state statistic agency said Wednesday.
The Rosstat agency said the country’s GDP in the third quarter grew by 1.7 percent year on year, following disappointing results in the previous quarter of 0.9 percent.
The economy ministry predicted growth of 1.9 percent while the consensus of analysts was 1.6 percent.
While quarterly results for industry sectors will not be available before December 12, interim monthly figures indicate that the acceleration was likely caused by growth in agriculture, which analysts at Capital Economics calculated at 5.1 percent based on available Rosstat figures.
ING economist Dmitry Dolgin estimated that one-fourth of Russia’s growth acceleration since last quarter is due to agriculture output and export, possibly due to the “higher and earlier-than-usual harvest collection this year.”
Russia’s economy ministry said it is keeping its annual growth forecast at 1.3 percent and is expecting the acceleration trend to continue into the fourth quarter.
President Vladimir Putin announced at the beginning of his presidential term in 2018 that the goal of reaching four percent economic growth, with the help of an ambitious “national projects” programme.
The cost of these projects, which range from health to infrastructure, is nearly $400 billion before 2024, of which $115 billion is supposed to come from private investors.