The economy ministry predicted growth of 1.9 percent while the consensus of analysts was 1.6 percent.
While quarterly results for industry sectors will not be available before December 12, interim monthly figures indicate that the acceleration was likely caused by growth in agriculture, which analysts at Capital Economics calculated at 5.1 percent based on available Rosstat figures. ING economist Dmitry Dolgin estimated that one-fourth of Russia's growth acceleration since last quarter is due to agriculture output and export, possibly due to the "higher and earlier-than-usual harvest collection this year." Russia's economy ministry said it is keeping its annual growth forecast at 1.3 percent and is expecting the acceleration trend to continue into the fourth quarter.