The Russian economy expanded by 1.9 percent in December year-on-year after growing by 1.8 percent the previous month, the economy ministry said on Friday. The ministry increased its estimate for gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2018 to 2 percent from 1.8 percent due to a significant rise in construction activity. In 2017, GDP growth in Russia was 1.6 percent, according to the most recent estimate from the Russian statistics service.

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