Putin Optimistic About Russian Economy Despite Western Threats - from TRUNEWS

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected economic growth in Russia to resume before long.

“We expect growth to resume already in the near future,” he said at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016 (SPIEF 2016) in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 17, 2016. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

He said Russia had maintained its reserves, that capital outflow had decreased substantially – by 80 percent, and that inflation was also slowing.

“The goal we are setting ourselves is to achieve an economic growth rate of at least 4 percent per year,” he said.

He said “a level of inflation of 4-5 percent is achievable already in the medium term.”

“In the next five to seven years we need to at least halve the non-oil deficit,” he said.

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President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not hold a grudge against the European Union and was ready to work to improve relations with the bloc, which he said was still a key trade partner.

Speaking at the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin played down economic difficulties caused by Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis and low international oil prices, painting a bullish picture of an economy that is on the mend and open for business with foreign partners.

“We do not hold a grudge and are ready to meet our European partners halfway,” Putin told the forum. “But it certainly cannot be a one-way game.”

He made his comments on the same day as the EU announced it would extend sanctions against Russia imposed in retaliation for Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Despite lingering tensions over Ukraine, there are tentative signs of a thaw in relations, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s presence at the St Petersburg forum.

Putin said Russia had weathered recent economic difficulties successfully, citing falling inflation and capital flight and the preservation of foreign exchange reserves.

“Russia has been able to solve the most acute problems and already in the near future we count on the renewal of (economic) growth,” he said.

Russia still wants a new pipeline route to export gas to southern Europe despite the cancellation of the South Stream gas project, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Putin said the expansion of the Nord Stream pipeline, under the Baltic Sea, was not an alternative to the canceled South Stream route.

He also said Russia was not turning its back on exporting gas to Europe via Ukraine, but that it was vital there were alternative routes too.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning, Ekaterina Golubkova and Christian Lowe; Writing by Lidia Kelly and Jason Bush; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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