Growing construction activity, a recovering economy and stabilising cement production – 2017 marks something of a turn-around year for Russia after years of recession. But the situation is still fragile with much of the economic growth fuelled by oil prices, which remain volatile, and construction increasing in less obvious sectors such as agriculture and healthcare. By Alexey Semenov, GS-Expert LLC, Russia, and ICR Research, UK.
Following several years of recession, the Russian economy finally stabilised in 2017 with GDP growth of 1.5 per cent, according to the Federal Statistics Service (see Table 1). This compares to a contraction of 0.2 per cent in 2016 and a fall of 2.8 per cent in the previous year. Although the 2017 figure was in line with the Ministry of Economic Development’s forecast of 1.4-1.8 per cent, it fell below predictions of 1.7-2.2 per cent growth made by the country’s central bank.
