This was a sharply lower figure than many had expected, indicating that Russia's economic downturn may be much deeper than previously thought.
The economy ministry predicts that GDP will contract by 2.2 per cent in 2009, but following the January drop, this forecast “is looking very optimistic”, said Chris Weafer, a strategist at Uralsib, the Moscow investment bank.
“If this is the darkness before the dawn, then today's number confirms the darkness, while the dawn remains an aspiration.”
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