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Drought’s Toll on GDP

Russia’s worst drought in half a century cost the economy at least 0.4 percentage point this year, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said Tuesday.

Without the drought, gross domestic product could have expanded 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent this year, Klepach told reporters. The ministry is maintaining a previous 4 percent GDP growth forecast, he said.

Klepach also said the economy expanded 2.5 percent in July compared with the same month last year, while shrinking 0.3 percent from the previous month. 

(Bloomberg)


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