Finance Ministry says mining may underpin economy in long-term

ST. PETERSBURG, Jun 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy will grow by 1.5% in the long-term, and mining could become an additional point of growth, Ivan Chebeskov, head of the financial policy department at the Finance Ministry, said late on Thursday.

“The external restrictions we have recently had will reduce the growth outlook for the next five years or so,” Chebeskov said.

“Earlier, we forecast the average growth over five to seven years at 3%, now it will be probably 1.5%. We understand that the overall consumption of electric power in the country will be lower than we expected earlier, and this is why mining is some additional demand for electric power consumption we did not plan earlier.”

This industry should be certainly regulated, he said, adding that he hopes for an agreement with the central bank on the remaining issues.

“At the beginning of the year we had no touching points, now we have one, which is mining and settlements in foreign trade. As to settlements inside the country, we stick here to the consolidated position of the central bank that it should not be done for a while, because we have the only legally authorized means of payment, which is rubles,” he said.

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