Russia's economic growth needs rise in investments

Acceleration of Russia's economic growth in the next few years is possible only if the volume of investments in the Russian economy grows faster; otherwise, an advance of the domestic demand will be satisfied by imports to a greater extent than by domestic production, analysts of the Center for Macroeconomic Research of the Russian consulting company BDO UniconRuf believe.

In the first half of 2003, domestic demand went up 11.7 percent against the same period of 2002, which was a bit higher than an increase in external demand. Growth of domestic and external demand was over 10 percent, while the GDP advanced only 7 percent. Imports of goods and services in real terms gained 19.8 percent.

Imports climbed, as Russian companies could not increase output at the pace suitable for satisfying consumer and investment domestic demand. As analysts pointed out, in the first half of 2003 investment demand was not that high, but it is an increase in investment activity that triggered acceleration of economic growth. This was due to the improvement of financial performance of Russian companies, including in export industries, and cheapening of loans resources for investments, which stimulates production development.