IMF forecasts Russia GDP growth of four percent this year.

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) expects that this year Russia's GDP will grow four percent, while
next year the growth will slow down to 3.3 percent. These figures are
given in a new report of the IMF prepared for the spring session of
leading agencies of the IMF and the World Bank.
This year it will be held in Washington on April 24-25. The new
forecast for Russia is a bit better than the forecast in January, when the
IMF gave the figure of a 3.6-percent growth. Russia's Deputy Minister for
Economic Development Andrei Klepach said in mid-March that this year's
growth will be 3-3.5 percent. However, the official did not rule out a
quicker pace.
As for inflation, according to the IMF this year it will make up 7.0
percent, while in 2011 it can decline to 5.7 percent. According to Russian
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the Russian authorities forecast this year'
s inflation at the level of 6-6.5 percent.

.43 injured in Moscow metro blasts still in hospital.

MOSCOW, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - As many as 43 people wounded in the
March 29 terrorist acts in the Moscow metro system are still staying in
Moscow-based hospitals, a source from the Russian Healthcare and Social
Development Ministry told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
According to the source, one of the wounded is still in critical
condition, six people are in grave condition and three more are in
condition of moderate severity. Thirty-three people are feeling
satisfactory, the source added.
The two suicide bombings at the Moscow metro stations of Lubyanka and
Park Kultury killed 40 and wounded 90.

.It would be better to avoid sanctions against Iran - Medvedev.

BUENOS AIRES, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
does not rule out sanctions against Iran, but believes it would be better
to avoid them, as they are fraught with humanitarian catastrophe.
"I for one don't rule out the possibility of sanctions by the decision
of the U.N. Security Council," Medvedev said. "These must be coordinated,
clever and efficient sanctions that would not cause damage to the
humanitarian situation," the Russian leader stressed. "However, it would
be better to do without sanctions," he said.

.Medvedev expects blns of investments from accords with Argentina.

BUENOS AIRES, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
expects concrete activities and investments worth billions of dollars from
agreements on cooperation signed between Russia and Argentina.
"The main thing is to have practical moves" after the signing of
agreements, he said. "It is now difficult to calculate the total amount of
investments," the Russian leader said. "However, if we speak for example
about the nuclear power industry, alone the access of Rosatom to the
Argentinean market will entail billions of dollars worth of investment
from the construction of power units and infrastructure," the Russian
leader noted. "Alone this project is worth billions of dollars," he
repeated. "And there are other projects, for example in the railway
sector," he added.

.Russia's return to Latin America must not cause concern - pres.

BUENOS AIRES, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
does not believe that Russia's return to Latin America must cause other
countries' concern.
"If this disturbs somebody, we could not care less," the president
said in reply to an Itar-Tass query here. "I have got an impression that
there are reasonable people in the White House in Washington, and if it is
so they will not fear (Russia's return to Latin America)," the Russian
leader said.
"Russia has returned to Latin America and we are now very actively
promoting our interests," Medvedev stressed. "Our friends live here, and
we would like to develop cooperation with them," he added. "The world is
global, and nobody has monopoly on truth," he stressed.
Argentinean President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, for her part,
said that in the present-day global world Latin American countries are
fully independent and no country has the right to impose its position on
them. "We are not a third country and we are not in the background," she
stressed.
"The world has changed, it has become global and multifaceted, and the
Latin American region has changed," she added. "We live in one world and
nobody, not even the strongest country, has the right to impose its
position on other states," the Argentinean president emphasized.
"New leaders have appeared nowadays, who have their own perspective,"
the president said. "We come out in favour of cooperation with all
countries of the world," Christina Fernandez de Kirchner said.

.Business people, bankers meet ahead of BRIC summit.

BRASILIA, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - Business executives and bankers from
Brazil, Russia, India and China met on Thursday in the capital of Brazil
ahead of a summit of the BRIC group of countries.
This is a fundamentally new event in the practice of cooperation of
four BRIC countries. About 400 representatives of business circles from
four countries got together on Wednesday at Copacabana Palace Hotel.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Selso Luiz Nunes Amorim addressed the
forum, and said his country intends to bring aggregate trade turnover with
BRIC partners to 60 billion dollars already this year.
"We have established a lot of businesses contacts, and solved the task
of presenting our possibilities," the head of the Russian delegation,
deputy chairman of the Vnesheconombank (VEB) Sergei Vasilyev, told Tass by
telephone.
"Infrastructure projects are of big interest from the point of view of
exchange of experience and investments, as all BRIC states have vast
territories and there is a lag in the development of infrastructure," he
said. Russian business people also see as "important and promising" the
development of ties in agriculture. Power engineering, telecommunications
and high technologies are traditionally priority issues on the business
agenda of the BRIC states.
"I am sure that the practice of such meetings within the BRIC
framework will be continued," Vasilyev said.
-0-zhe/


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next