UPDATE: Minister: Russia’s industrial production may fall 3.3% in 2015

(Adds details in third paragraph)

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (PRIME) -- Russia’s industrial production will decrease 3.3% in 2015, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel on Tuesday.

“If we are talking about final figures, of course we will do it after receiving all statistics by mid-January… But preliminarily we can say that industry in general will fall by 3.3%. As for manufacturing industries, a little bit more, (down) about 5%,” he said.

Russia’s pharmaceutical production rose by about 12% and the chemical industry increased by 7% in from January 1, Manturov also said.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service, Russia’s industrial output decreased 3.5% on the year in November and contracted 3.3% on the year in January–November. Mineral resources production fell 0.1% on the year in November, the manufacturing industry output went down 5.3%, and production and distribution of power, gas and water decreased 3.5% in the period.

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