94Ha Viewpoint
Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on economic issues that Russia needs to take advantage of opportunities in the world economy to develop its own production, exports and trade relations.
Putin said: “We need not only to track these factors and predict their changes, but most importantly, to take advantage of the opportunities that arise to develop domestic production, trade relations and exports, and to strengthen the domestic economy as a whole so that it can achieve steady and positive development under any external conditions.”
Putin said: “In January-February, GDP grew by 1.9% on an annual basis. At the same time, the growth of the processing and manufacturing industry was more active – it grew by 5% in the first two months of this year.”
He pointed out that the growth rate of Russia’s GDP this year will be slightly lower than last year.
Putin stressed that Russia should achieve “a stable economic growth rate, while reducing inflation and maintaining a low unemployment rate.”
