Russian economy to grow in 3rd quarter

LONDON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The third quarter will mark the end of the recession as the Russian economy will grow, the country's finance minister says.

In London Friday to attend a ministerial meeting of the BRIC union countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- on the sidelines of a Group of 20 pre-summit conference, Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told reporters that the third quarter would mark the beginning of a turnaround in Moscow's hard-hit economy, RIA Novosti said.

"We still do not have the final data for the second quarter, but we expect Russia's economy to grow in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, and the third quarter will mark the end of recession," Kudrin said.

Russia's gross domestic product declined by 9.3 percent in July 2009 compared with the year-earlier month and fell 10.2 percent in the first seven months of the year, the Economics Ministry has said.

Kudrin said the BRIC countries regard the London G20 meeting as "very important" in finding common measures to fight the still-ongoing global recession.

"Our countries have similar economies, and Russia suffered more than the other BRIC countries from the global crisis and GDP decrease," he told RIA Novosti.