MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's GDP growth of 5.5% in the first quarter of 2006 was the highest among the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations for the period, the country's statistics service said Wednesday.

The Federal State Statistics Service, citing figures from the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and data from other national statistics services, said real year-on-year GDP growth in Russia during the first quarter reached 5.5%, compared to 3.7%, 3.4% and 3.3% in the United States, Japan and Canada, respectively. The rate was 2.3% in Great Britain, 1.7% in Germany, and 1.5% in France and Italy.

However, Russia's GDP still falls well behind other G8 economies. IMF preliminary estimates based on first quarter performance put Russia's GDP for 2006 at $900 billion, compared to $13.2 trillion for the U.S., $4.42 trillion for Japan, $2.75 trillion for Germany, $2.23 trillion for Great Britain, $2.10 trillion for France, $1.75 trillion for Italy, and $1.26 trillion for Canada.

Russia's consumer spending grew 10.7% during the first quarter, the highest level among G8 nations.

Industrial production climbed 4.4% during the first six months of the year, putting Russia in second place behind Germany, with 4.8%.