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%.
