"The Russian economy has the potential for growth..." - Klepach

Despite all the sanctions and structural problems in the industry, the Russian economy has the potential for growth, said the chief economist of the VEB Development Institute, Andrei Klepach, speaking at the "Grain of Siberia" forum in Barnaul. Andrei Klepach detailed the state of the Russian economy this year and gave a forecast for its development next year. Thus, when comparing the GDP of the first 7 months of 2025 with the same period last year, growth of 1.1% was recorded. However, starting from March, the economic indicators have been declining (taking into account seasonal and calendar factors). In August, the pace of deterioration in business activity in the manufacturing industry slowed down, and the decline in the service sector stopped. The number of new orders continued to decrease in both sectors amid low demand, but companies began hiring new employees in anticipation of an improvement in the situation. Costs associated with production and services increased slightly ...