Ministry sees positive trends in Russian economy for next months

MOSCOW, Sep 27 (PRIME) -- The Economic Development Ministry expects positive trends in Russia’s economy to continue in the next few months, Minister Maxim Oreshkin told the Federation Council, the parliament’s upper house, on Wednesday.

“In the next quarters, we expect a further positive trend in Russia’s economy. What is it linked with? First, it is credit activity dynamics,” he said, adding that new mortgage records are possible this autumn. “Higher supply in the segment will directly lead to economic growth.”

The minister said that the ruble is close to a fundamentally reasonable rate and that he expects no serious fluctuations soon.

“On the back of a tangible drop in the ruble rate in real terms this April we believe that the rate has reached a more or less fundamentally fair level and project no significant fluctuations,” he said.

In September, the ministry affirmed its 2017 average ruble forecast at 59.4 rubles against the U.S. dollar.

Oreshkin also said that Russian residents will need several years to regain their real incomes, which they lost in 2014-2015. He also said that the current growth in real household earnings is connected with increasing labor efficiency, not windfall proceeds from hydrocarbon sales.

The official said real wages will go 3% in 2017 and over 4% in 2018.

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