The Investment Boom Continues
Rosstat, the Russian state statistics service, issued a preliminary financial report on January 2008 yesterday. Economists say that the report indicates that the investment and consumption boom in Russia continues, in spite of the worsening world economic situation. A slight slowdown in retail cam be attributed to the ling holidays that month.
The volume of investment in January 2007 was up 19 percent, to 354.9 billion rubles, in comparison with January 2007. That month last year saw record growth of 26.9 percent over January 2006. January's industrial production was up 4.8 percent over the previous January.
Disposal income in January of this year rose 12.9 percent (nominally 28.5 percent) over last January, to 10,641 rubles. Real salaries rose 15.8 percent. These increases are fueling the consumption boom that has seized Russia. Retail turnover in January rose 14.1 percent to 911.6 billion rubles. Foodstuffs made up 45.1 percent of retail trade turnover in January 2008, down from 45.4 percent a year ago. Deputy Minister of Economic development and Trade Andrey Belousov reported yesterday that GDP growth in January was 7.4 percent, “a good indicator,” he added.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 22, 2008
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