国际英语新闻：Russia's GDP contracts 10% in first 9 months of 2009

MOSCOW, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 10 percent year-on-year from January to September, the country's Economic Development Ministry said Monday.

    The GDP in September shrank 8.6 percent year-on-year, after a slide of 10.5 percent in August compared with the same month last year, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

    However, Russia's GDP has been growing month-on-month since June. In August the GDP grew 0.1 percent compared with the previous month and rose 0.5 percent in September.

    The ministry said the accelerated growth in September was due to the development of agriculture and manufacturing, increased inventory and a slowdown in the drop in investment.

    The ministry forecast the country's GDP to fall 8.3 percent to 8.8 percent year-on-year in 2009, and to rise 1.6 percent next year.

    Officials predicted that Russia would start to come out of recession in the third quarter, but it was still premature to talk about an end to the crisis in the country.

    Russia's economy, heavily dependent on exports of energy and raw materials, has been hit hard by the international financial crisis, especially by fluctuating oil prices and lower capital inflow.