By Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian consumer price growth may slightly exceed the official target this year, a Kremlin economic aide told Reuters on Tuesday, becoming the first top official to acknowledge the 8 percent target may be missed.
"I think the government and the central bank have every chance of keeping inflation within the target, but even if it overshoots, it will do so only slightly," Arkady Dvorkovich said at the Reuters Russia Investment Summit.
Consumer prices grew by 6.7 percent in the first eight months of the year, and economists polled by Reuters see annual inflation at 8.5 percent for the full year. Officials have until now insisted the target was still within reach.
Dvorkovich, a soft spoken Western-educated economist, said that given billions of dollars in net private capital inflows and higher-than-expected prices for oil, Russia's main commodity, current inflation levels could be seen a success.
"If it exceeds 9 percent, which at the moment is unlikely, it will be a failure," he said. Russia had 9 percent inflation in 2006, after raising the target and introducing tough anti-inflation measures, including the rouble appreciation.
Dvorkovich said economic growth will remain strong and forecast no less than 7.5 percent gross domestic product growth in 2007. He said investment growth will be in double-digits, even stripping out acquisitions in the energy sector.
AN INTEGRATED WORLD
Dvorkovich said Russia has the potential to grow even faster in the medium term if it increases labor productivity and energy efficiency to compensate for rising domestic prices for natural gas and electricity. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
