Russian economy grew by 0.7pc in Jan

The Russian economy expanded by 0.7 percent in January year-on-year after growing by 2.3 percent the previous month, the Economy Ministry said on Wednesday.

Economic growth was lower affected by a slowdown in manufacturing industry and construction. Sales were also weak due to value-added tax increase from January.

The economy growth in January was below the forecasts - the Reuters poll of economists and analysts estimated GDP to grow by 1.5 percent in January.