Russia: May economic results may be not better than April

According to the Ministry of Economy, in January-April 2015, Russian economy in annual terms decreased by 2.4% from 2.8%, expected by the Government by results of the year. The Alexei Ulyukayev’s Office has admitted: the decline in GDP is getting deeper, which is confirmed by leading indicators of the industry in May 2015. However, rising oil prices and steadily slowing inflation improve the short-term macroeconomic forecasts.

Estimates of the current GDP dynamics, published yesterday by the Ministry of Economy in the release of macroeconomic monitoring in January - April 2015, have shown a dramatic deepening of the recession in April. Clarification of GDP data in the first quarter by the Federal State Statisctics Committee forced the Ministry to improve the assessment of its decline in March from 3.4% to 2.7% (the decline in January was 1.4%, in February - 1.3%). However, the sharp deterioration of the main macroeconomic data in April led to the downfall of the economy this month by 4.2% in annual terms, the Ministry of Economy estimated. "The April data showed a continuation of the recession, which is defined as by a real deepening of the recession, as by the relatively higher base last year," - said the Ministry.