Zee Beam News

02/03/2006 RZD News - The year 2005 has been a most favorable one for socioeconomic development in Russia, the Economy Minister told a government meeting today assessing the country's economic policy in 2005. The economy grew 6.4 percent last year, significantly outpacing the world economy, the minister said. However, the quality of economic growth did not improve, as trade has continued to expand while industrial production has advanced by only 4 percent against 8.3 percent a year ago, the minister claimed. In Gref's opinion, this is largely due to a slower advance in the fuel and energy industry, with gas production increasing by only 2 percent and oil exports actually sliding 2.1 percent, reports RBC. The Economy Minister believes that Russia will not be able to tame inflation and achieve a high rate of economic growth without serious structural reorganization. Without such changes, economic growth is unlikely to exceed 5 percent in the next few years, Gref concluded.