A Surprising Contraction of the Russian Economy in November 2017

Russia's economy shrank surprisingly in November 2017, mainly as a result of declining industrial production, BNR reported. National radio refers to the ministry of economy, quoted by Reuters.

Gross domestic product declined by 0.3% in November compared to a year earlier, thus defeating forecasts by economists and analysts for growth of 1.5 percent.

However, it should be borne in mind that the oil-dependent Russian economy has improved in 2017 after two years of recession caused by a sharp decline in world commodity prices and by the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Moscow for its role in the Ukrainian crisis.

The Economy Ministry accused the economy of shrinking in November of weaker industrial production in view of the agreement of major oil producers, including OPEC and Russia, to further restrict crude oil production to support the prices of the major energy raw materials .

GDP shrinking 0.3% in November, after gaining 1.0% in October, forced the Economy Ministry to review the growth figures for the Russian economy for the entire 2017. On Monday, the ministry said the economy grew by between 1.4% and 1.8% last year, after surprisingly weak data for November Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin vowed that Russia's GDP will grow by at least 2.2 % in 2017, BNR added