STORY: Russia's economy outpaced G7 countries in 2023: Putin
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 29, 2024
DATELINE: March 1, 2024
LENGTH: 00:00:39
LOCATION: Moscow
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Russian): VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President

STORYLINE:

The Russian economy grew at a higher rate compared to the global average, and the country has surpassed G7 nations in economic growth, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday during his annual address to the Federal Assembly.

SOUNDBITE (Russian): VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President
"Last year, the Russian economy grew at a higher rate than the world (economy). For this indicator, we were not only ahead of the European Union's leading countries, but also the G7 nations."

Putin announced earlier in February that the country's GDP grew by 3.6 percent in 2023 during a government meeting on economic issues.

During the annual address, the Russian leader also said that the number of Russians living below the poverty line decreased to 13.5 million people by the end of 2023, adding that this was a dramatic change in comparison to 42 million people in 2000.

He further said that it is important to "more than double" total government and business investments in research and development, to potentially bring their share to 2 percent of the GDP by 2030.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Moscow.
(XHTV)