Russia's GDP up 8.4% in April, 8.3% in January-April

MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's GDP grew 8.4% year-on-year in April and 8.3% in the first fourth months of 2008, a deputy economics minister said on Tuesday.

Andrei Klepach said the GDP forecast for 2008 was 7.6%, compared to 8.1% in 2007.

The minister said growth has been boosted by strong investment activity and consumer demand.

Russia's industrial output grew 6.9% year-on-year in January-April, the state statistics service Rosstat said.

In April, output grew 14.5% year-on-year in manufacturing industries and 28.8% in car production.