Russia's economic ministry on Thursday slashed the country's 2013 growth forecast to 2.4 from 3.6 percent amid a slowdown of both industrial output and consumer demand. Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach also lowered the direct investment growth outlook to 4.6 from 6.5 percent. "GDP growth will be 2.4 percent," news agencies quoted Klepach as saying.
"Inflation will stand at 5.8 percent while capital outflows will reach 30 to 35 billion dollars," he added. Klepach attributed the downgrades to flat Russian export growth that analysts attribute to a broader industrial slowdown and slowing business investments.