MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/. Russia’s car market may become to recover from 2017, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said on Sunday.

"We believe that gradual recovery of the car market will begin next year. We hope for gradual automotive industry growth [from 2017]," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.

He said the year 2016 will be a turning point for the automotive industry to be followed by gradual recovery.

According to the ministry’s forecasts, car production in Russia is expected to go down by five to seven percent in 2016, to 1.5 million vehicles. In 2015, Russia’s car output dropped by 27.7% on 2014, to 1.213 million cars. Truck production decreased by 14.7%, to 131,000 trucks.

Sales of cars and commercial vehicles in Russia slumped by 35.7% in 2015, to 1.6 million cars. According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB), car sales in 2016 are forecasted at 1.53 million vehicles, or down by 4.7% year on year.

In conditions of the recession and the difficult situation on the car market, the Russian ministry of industry and trade has taken a series of measures to maintain car sales. Thus, the ministry reimburses car manufacturers for part of their expenses on the modernization of production lines, maintaining jobs, etc. Apart from that, the ministry maintains demand on the car market by means of a car scrap and trade-in, easy-term leasing and car loan programs.