Russian economy stable despite global woes- Putin
April 16, 2013, 8:52 am

Vladimir Putin (left) in a working meeting with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow [PPIO]

As the economic crisis has become more dangerous, it would inevitably affect Russia, Putin warned in a meeting with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“That happened in 2008. We see the same things now,” said the president, adding that the Russian GDP growth rate in 2012 slowed down and so did the Russian people’s income.

Still, Putin noted, the Russian economy, unlike European economies, showed viability and ability for growth.

“In contrast to our friends and partners in Europe and other regions of the world, the Russian economy demonstrates viability and potential for further development,”  said Putin.

The IMF has trimmed its forecast for US growth, predicting it will only expand 1.7 per cent instead of the forecasted 2 per cent, according to a draft of the World Economic Outlook obtained by Bloomberg.

Last week, Russia’s economy ministry cut its growth forecast for this year by a third to 2.4 per cent.

In a recent interview to a German TV channel, Putin said that the Cyprus crisis “exposed all the inefficiency and all the unreliability of placing deposits in Western financial institutions.”

Prime minister Medvedev agreed that the global economic trend has been alarming but added that the Russian government has taken it into account when drafting its plans.

“Taking into account how the global, the European economy has been developing, we have to undertake decisions tough enough for the future period,” Medvedev said.

Government experts have been drafting measures that would allow Russia to withstand the global negative trend, Medvedev said, stressing that the government has been thoroughly considering the cost of these measures and their consequences for the economy.

On Wednesday, Medvedev is to present the parliament a report of the government’s work last year.

Russia’s new central bank chief, Elvira Nabiullina, has emphasised growth as a key policy goal and economists expect the central bank to cut rates at the latest when she takes office in June.

With inputs from agencies