MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) - President Dmitry Medvedev admitted on Tuesday that Russia had underestimated the effect of the worldwide financial crisis on the country, but said the economy had started growing again.
"The Russian government underestimated the scale of the crisis. GDP will fall by 8.5% this year, though we set ourselves for a 1%-2% figure," Medvedev told the Valdai Discussion Club.
"Our economic state is extremely challenging," he said.
"The level of inflation has fallen, the figure has been less than expected. We have even observed deflation in recent weeks, but over the past month it has been possible to reach absolute growth in GDP of 0.4%-0.5%," Medvedev said.
"Despite the figures, there is a recession, but it's good that there are these signs," he added.
