Russia sees exit from recession from third quarter: Minister

MOSCOW: Russia will start fully emerging from recession in the third quarter, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday, after an economic crisis that has battered the once booming Russian economy.

"June was the first month of Russia's exit from the crisis. But the full start of our exit from the recession will be in the third quarter," he said according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

"Today we have no doubts about this," he added.

Russia, which failed to implement significant economic reform during boom years over the last half decade, has been hit much harder by the crisis than most other developing economies.

The Russian economy shrank 9.8 percent in the first quarter on a 12-month basis and, according to preliminary data, by 10.9 percent in the second quarter.

But Kudrin said that the economy grew by 0.4 percent in June in comparison to May, adding that the government's anti-crisis measures were now starting to bear fruit.