MOSCOW, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 1.1 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2019 from a 0.9-percent year-on-year growth in January-July, the Russian Economic Development Ministry said Thursday.
Russia's GDP expanded 1.6 percent in August, and economic growth continued to recover from the weak dynamics in the first half of the year, the ministry said in its monthly business activity report.
However, the August figure was lower than the July rate of 1.8 percent, the ministry said, attributing the spike in July mainly to robust industrial growth.
According to the ministry's estimate, a significant positive contribution to the GDP growth rate of 0.6 percentage point in August was made by industrial production and another 0.1 percentage point by agriculture.
Earlier this month, the Russian central bank said it had lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2019 to 0.8-1.3 percent from previous 1.0-1.5 percent due to weak economic activity observed since the beginning of the year.
