Russian economy to see positive growth in 2016

Russia is expected to see a positive growth of 2.3 percent in its economy next year, a leading Russian official has said.

Russian economic development minister Alexei Ulyukayev made the prediction while addressing a joint meeting of Russian and Belarusian ministries of economic development held at the Belarusian port city of Brest on Monday.

Ulyukayev based his assumption on the average oil price standing at $60 per barrel, Xinhua reported.

The decline of inflation rate indicated improvement in Russian economy, predicting that inflation would slow down to 15.7-15.8 percent by August 1.

"We think that the inflation rate will range between 10-10.5 percent at the end of this year, and according to the forecast of the Central Bank, by the end of the first quarter of 2016, it will be back to seven percent."

The minister was confident that the economic situation in Russia is getting better and the month-on-month recession is almost over.

"We estimate that the economic drop would be 3.4 percent in the first half and 4.4 percent in the second half of 2015," Ulyukayev said. "We assume this is probably the lowest point."

Many western countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over its alleged "destabilising role" in the Ukrainian crisis.