Putin says Russian economy gradually recovers

SOCHI, May 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy is gradually recovering despite all difficulties, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday at a meeting on economic issues.

“The Russian economy, despite all the difficulties, is still gradually recovering, overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic. Thus, Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in January–March of this year is only 1% lower than in the pre-crisis first quarter of last year,” he said.

Many economic indicators in Russia have not yet returned to their previous values after the coronavirus pandemic, but there are positive changes, including in the manufacturing industry, Putin said.

“Of course, many economic indicators have not yet returned to their previous values, but, I repeat, positive changes are also obvious. So, in the first quarter, the manufacturing sector of the Russian industry grew by 1.4%, in March it added 5.4%, and in April, amid a serious decline last year, there was an increase of 14.2%,” he said.

The president said it is necessary to raise the number of employed people by at least 700,000 to reach the employment level of 2019.

Putin also said that there are still factors of instability both in the Russian and global economy.

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