Russian Industrial Output Forecast to Fall 7.4% in 2009

After falling 13.2% in February, Russian industrial production is forecast to plunge 7.4% in 2009, the government said on March 18.

Metal production, building materials and machinery would be hardest hit.

Industrial output grew by a sluggish 2.1% in 2008, slowing sharply from 6.3% the previous year, according to the federal statistics agency Rosstat.

In January this year it fell by a massive 16% compared to the same month a year ago, the sharpest decline in 15 years.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009