OREANDA-NEWS Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was pleased with the economic trends in Russia. However, he demanded an increase in growth rates.

“Russia maintains positive economic growth rates, this continues for 13 quarters in a row,” the head of state said on July 10 at a meeting on economic issues.

In particular, he noted that in January-May of the current year the GDP “added 0.6%”, and industrial production - 2.4%.

However, experts interviewed earlier by Gazeta.Ru are not at all so optimistic.

At the end of May, Rosstat reported on the state of the Russian economy in the first quarter: in three months GDP grew by only 0.5%.

"The slowdown in the growth of the index of physical volume of GDP to the corresponding period of the previous year was affected primarily by the situation in the wholesale and retail trade, the results of operations with real estate, the situation in the wholesale and retail trade, and a decrease in production in the heat and power industry," in the Rosstat comments.

At the same time, experts noted that a fraction of a percent is a big convention and that it is clear that the Russian economy is marking time.