Russian 0.6% GDP growth in H1 aligns with Central Bank's 2026 outlook - dep governor

MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - Russian GDP growth in the first half of the year aligns with the Central Bank of Russia's assessment of the Russian economy and is within the regulator's forecast for between zero and 1% growth in 2026, CBR Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin said.

"Growth in H1 was 0.6% year-on-year. This is generally in line with our economic outlook, and approximately in the middle, or slightly above the 0%-1% year-on-year forecast range that we currently have in our baseline forecast for this year," Zabotkin told reporters.

He said it was better to assess GDP dynamics for the first half of a year than separately for the first and second quarters, due to the data noise from the calendar factor.

"The data for the first and second quarters individually were noisy because of one-off calendar factors, so it's more accurate to take the first half of the year as a whole, due to fewer working days in the first quarter and more working days in the second quarter than in 2025. The figure for the first quarter is lower, and the figure for the second quarter is higher than, say, the organic rate of economic activity for these two periods. These effects are completely neutralized in terms of the first half of the year," Zabotkin said.

According to preliminary data from Rosstat, Russia's GDP grew 1.3% year-on-year in Q2 2026 after falling 0.2% in Q1 2026.