Economic Situation

In March, after the February break marked the revival of economic activity. Compared with February's gdp grew by 0.2 percent. Compared to March 2009, gdp grew by 4.9 percent. In general, for I quarter 2010 growth sezonnovyrovnenny gdp grew by 0.6 percent. Compared with previous quarters the pace of recovery is gradually slowing down (2% in iii quarter and 1,7% in iy quarter of last year). On an annualized basis for the I quarter of 2010, according to preliminary estimates, gdp grew by 4,5% against falling by 9,4% in I quarter of 2009.

After consecutive three-month decline in investment activity in March, investment growth has resumed. With the exception of seasonal increase in investment in fixed capital to February in March was 1.8%, but in general, for I quarter investments were 1.1% lower than in the iy quarter of 2009. This is mainly due to decreased activity in the building, where the decline in the I quarter was 10.9 percent. In March renewed growth in the volume of work on activity "Construction" – by 1,4% compared to February. On an annualized basis for the first time since November 2008, an increase of investments in fixed assets and in relation to March 2009 an increase of 0.7 percent. However, this increase is mainly due to the sharp collapse in investment in early 2009. The volume of work on activity "Construction" is still below last year's level at 5.1 percent. In March, abruptly collapsed housing construction decreased by 20.8% compared to March 2009.