A vendor counts Russian rouble banknotes at a market in Moscow, March 3, 2014. (XINHUA/REUTERS)

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Russian central bank said Friday that it expects the country's GDP to rise between 1.0 and 1.5 percent in the first half of this year.

The prediction was based on "further recovery of production activity" after the 2017 growth rate of 1.5 percent.

The main driver of economic growth in 2017 was consumer demand, which continued to expand as real wages and retail lending grew, the bank said in a statement.

Russia's GDP growth rose 1.5 percent year on year in 2017, according to a preliminary estimate released Thursday by the Rosstat state statistics service.

This was lower than the central bank's December forecast of 1.7-2.2 percent.

The lower-than-expected GDP growth resulted from lower industry output and transportation volumes in November and December due to non-recurrent factors, the bank said, adding that in December, the growth of industrial production resumed.

There was a "slight weakening" of the investment dynamics in the second half of 2017 and a more marked decline in the third quarter, explained by the completion of several major infrastructure projects.

But the growth of private investment in fixed assets remained high throughout 2017 and made a significant contribution to investment in general, with gross fixed capital formation increasing by 3.6 percent.

In December, the central bank had said it expected GDP growth not to exceed 1.5-2.0 percent in 2018.