Russia's GDP Growth May Reach 6 % In 2001

The officials of the Russia's Finance Ministry believe that, according to the optimistic forecasts, in 2001 the GDP in Russia may grow by 6 per cent, Russia's Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Kolotukhin said, speaking at an international conference in London late on Thursday night. According to him, by the most restrained estimates, the growth of the GDP this year is forecast at the level of 5.5 per cent. Such a sufficiently high indicator of economic growth, stems first of all from increased domestic demand. This explains why the growth rate of the GDP has "relative immunity" from what is happening on the international markets, the Deputy Minister noted. As Kolotukhin said, according to the forecasts, Russia's trade balance will reach 54 billion US dollars by the end of this year, and the overall currency reserve which now stands at 38.4 billion dollars will exceed the respective figure for January 2000 by three-fold.