World Bank says Russian economic growth is still dependent on oil and gas prices

The Russian economic growth is still dependent on oil and gas prices, Chief Economist of the Moscow office of the World Bank said today at the presentation of the 4th economic report on Russia. The Wold Bank official was quoted as saying no structural changes have taken place in January-September 2002 in Russia. According to the official, if oil prices fall drastically tomorrow, the Russian economy will not be strong enough to cope with a drop in the production volume. If the industrial output growth rate is broken down into different sectors, it will become clear that higher growth rates were posted by natural resources sectors, while slower growth rates were posted by processing industry, according to the World Bank expert. He also said the investment inflow had been registered in the oil and gas industry and the state sector.