RusEnergy

MOSCOW, March 21 (RIA Novosti) - The growth of oil and petroleum product prices has failed to stimulate the sector, head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade German Gref told a meeting held by the Russian President with government members. Reporting to the head of state on industrial output growth, Gref stressed that oil production and oil refining were the outsiders of growth in industrial sectors. German Gref also noted that he was concerned over the low investment dynamics (7.8%). "In the previous years, except 2003, investment grew by more than 10%. Speaking about the growth of industrial production, Gref said that industrial output had grown 5.1% in February year on year. As compared to January 2005, industrial production went up 0.3%, the minister said. Machine-building was in the lead. According to Gref, output in machine-building increased 24% in February 2005 year on year. "This is a good factor but machine-building cannot be called a locomotive of growth yet," Gref noted. He added that metallurgy and the electric power sector had also grown at the start of the year. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said that it was yet difficult to assess the influence of the lower uniform social tax because calculations were based on old indices until March. However, German Gref promised that from March the influence of the uniform social tax would be tracked.