Official: Russia may avoid economic slump in 2016

MOSCOW, Apr 29 (PRIME) -- Russia may avoid an economic slump in 2016, Kirill Tremasov, a director of the Economic Development Ministry’s department for macroeconomic forecasts, said at a meeting of a commission for social and labor issues on Friday.

“Under our baseline forecast, the economy will fall 0.2%, but I will not be surprised at all if there is no decrease this year,” he said.

According to a baseline forecast of the ministry, Russia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is likely to fall 0.2% with the oil price averaging U.S. $40 per barrel in 2016.

In 2015, the Russian economy shrank 3.7%.

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