Kudrin says decline of Russian economy to last about 2 years

MOSCOW, May 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy can be decreasing for a year and a half to two years, after that growth will start, head of the Audit Chamber Alexei Kudrin said on Monday.

"The first steps, the first changes of the product flow, the replacement or the start of production of the goods we can produce ourselves will take place in two years. In fact, the gross domestic product (GDP) can be decreasing for these two years. Further it will be positive, as we forecast at the moment," Kudrin said.

Deeper restructuring of the economy will take longer, because the investment cycles in some of the products amount to five to 10 years, he also said.

The depth of an economic fall over the first years of economic restructuring will depend on the situation in the global economy including the logistics issues, the technology transfer bans and the difficulties with payments. Some of the branches of the Russian industry have already contracted by 50%, he added.

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