Interfax: Ulyukayev: economy bottomed out in Q3 2013; signs of recovery visible

MOSCOW. Jan 31 (Interfax) – Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev believes that the Russian economy passed through the worst of the economic downturn in the third quarter of 2013 and there are now encouraging signs that the situation is improving.

“It seems to me that we passed through the nadir sometime in about the third quarter of 2013. Encouraging signs that the situation is straightening out can be seen. This applies to the situation in industry, which demonstrated a positive trend in the fourth quarter last year. It applies to agriculture, which made a substantial contribution to achieving the overall economic result – it grew by more than 6% compared with last year,” Ulyukayev said at a meeting of the ministry’s collegium in Moscow on Friday.

There was also progress in the export sector – primarily in the non-raw-material segment – in the second half last year.

“Our challenge is to embrace these favorable trends, which are pretty tentative, uncertain, unstable, and take action to achieve the assigned targets,” Ulyukayev said.

Russia faces challenges from economic development globally and constraints on economic growth domestically, “associated with infrastructure, with excessive barriers to entrepreneurship, with obstacles on the path to effective export growth, with at times a difficult entrepreneurial environment, with too many costs to conduct business and other costs,” he said.

Russia’s growth last year, which the ministry estimates at 1.4%, “was lower than the average for the global economy,” he said.

“Investment activity has proven to be constrained, primarily investment activity connected with state capital investments and investments of the infrastructure companies,” he said.

Ulyukayev said that non-commodity export grew 13% in Q4 2013, which could be connected in some part with local factors, but is nonetheless a serious trend that must be supported by organizational and financial efforts.

He said that the working system for insuring export and Russian investment abroad was formed in 2013, and the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) also began operating smoothly.

Ulyukayev said that currently in progress are 241 foreign economic projects, which trading organizations are implementing with companies in 51 countries totaling $23 billion.

“In some cases, these are just intentions. These intentions must be translated into signed contracts, into incoming investment, into concrete results,” he said.