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Moscow (AFP)

Russia's economic recovery sped up notably in the second quarter, increasing the possibility that growth will exceed the 2 percent target the government set for 2017, Moscow claimed Wednesday.

Finance Minister Maxim Oreshkin said the country's gross domestic product, which went positive at the end of last year following a two-year recession, rose in the second quarter of 2017 by 2.7 percent year-on-year, compared with just 0.5 percent in the first quarter.

"Our forecast for the year of 2 percent seems even a little cautious," Oreshkin said.

The ministry's estimate, which is far more optimistic than the one provided by the country's central bank, is still to be confirmed by the statistics department, which will publish the official figure in the coming weeks.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Russia recorded its first increase in GDP (0.3 percent) after two years of recession triggered by the collapse of hydrocarbon prices and Western sanctions linked to the Ukrainian crisis.

Some increase in economic growth was already anticipated on the back of the gradual recovery of domestic consumption and unseasonally cold temperatures that provided a boost to the energy sector.

In the longer term, economists and authorities alike fear a slowdown in growth due to a lack of structural reforms, the shrinking of the working population and the economy's ongoing dependence on hydrocarbons.

© 2017 AFP