Fin Min says Russian economy developing under earlier forecast

MOSCOW, Mar 23 (PRIME) -- Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 2.3% in January–February and the economy has so far been developing in line with the forecasted trends, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a government meeting on March 21.

"We see that in accordance with the data of the economy ministry, the economy has so far been developing in accordance with the trends that we’ve planned. Economic growth amounted to 2.3% in the two months. The budget was also spent in accordance with the plan over the last two months," Siluanov said.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that the government was working to reduce the influence of the coronavirus on market volatility and the Russian economy. "We are taking proactive, preventive steps to reduce effects on the financial system of Russia and surely on the producing sector and the people."

According to Siluanov, the government will pay special attention to the regions depending on oil production and refining and that the local authorities are already monitoring the situation. Mishustin said that the Russian oil industry is competitive and is ready for volatility.

Mishustin said that the labor market is another area that the government will control and is ready to provide subsidies to the regions to pay unemployment benefits. "It is clear that many companies can experience financial issues due to the reduction of the number of clients: cash shortages and other problems due to the impossibility to fulfill the liabilities. But the employees must not be the victims,” he said.

He also said that he would cancel the moratorium on business checks during the epidemic if companies start to fire people.

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