IMF expects RF GDP decrease this year, growth in 2010

WASHINGTON, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) expects a 7.5 decrease in Gross Domestic Product in Russia this
year. In 2010 the Russian economy, in IMF estimates, is to grow by 1.5
percent. Such estimates are contained in the IMF's forecast-and-analysis
report prepared for a regualr annual meeting of the governing bodies of
the IMF and the World Bank. This year, such a meeting is to be held in
Istanbul from October 6 to 7.
The new forecast on Russia for this year is not so good as the
previous estimates of the IMF but better than Moscow expected. In spring,
the IMF estimated the downturn in Russia at six percent. The just
confirmed forecast made by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development
puts GDP at minus 8.5 percent.
Compared with the spring report, an estimate of the growth of the
Russian economy next year hasbeen revised by the IMF one percent upwardly
-- up to 1.5 percent -- while the Russian authorities mention practically
the same -- 1.6 percent.
As far as innflation is concerned, its rate in Russia this year, in
the IMF opinion, must reach 12.3 percent and go down to 9.9.percent in
2010. The IMF calculates this index on the strenght of its own method: on
a yearly basis on average, not on the strength of data "from December to
December", as is customary in Russia.The Russian Ministry of Economic
Development regards this year's inflation rate of 11-12 percent as the
most probable one.

.Int'l shipbuilding exhibition to open in St Petersbrug Tue.

ST PETERSBURG, September 22 (Itar-Tass) - The 10th international
exhibition and conference, the Neva-2009, on shipbuilding, navigation, the
operation of ports, and the development of the ocean and the shelf opens
here on Tuesday under the aegis of the Maritime Board to the Government of
the Russian Federation and under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of
Transport. More than 600 business firms and enterprises from 37 countries
put on display the newest deveopment products and equipment.
An official at the LenExpo joint-stock company, which is one of the
initiators of the project, has told Itar-Tass that the Neva-2009 is
expected to demonstrate and promote Russian producers' output and
services on the world market, including equipment for the development of
the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route.
The exhibition is intended to promote integrational processes in the
shipbuildig industry, the development of civilian shipbuilding (
sea-going, fishing, and river-going ships), competitiveness of this
equipment and the gaining of a large share of the world sales market by it.
The exhibition has thematic sections such as "Construction and
Operation of Undersea Pipelines", "Equipment and Technology for the
Exploration and Development of the Mineral Resources of the Ocean", "The
Construction of Modern Tanker Fleet", "The Manufacture of Ships to Ensure
Shelf Operations", and "The Training of Personnel for the Maritime
Industry and the Reviving Russian Merchant Marine".
The business programme includes an international Arctic confrence, a
jubilee conference on shipbuiding, navigation, the development of the
ocean and the shelf with a plenary session on prospects for the
development of Russia's civilian shipbuilding. An official ceremony is to
be held within the scope of the exhibition to mark the opening of a Dutch
Maritime House in Russia.
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