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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 6-- The Russian economy has entered a trajectory of sustainable growth as a result of an improving economic environment and the implementation of strategic national projects, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. "We have not only overcome the decline, but we have stepped on a trajectory of sustainable growth," he said on the sidelines of the 23rd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2019), which this year is focused on means to guarantee sustainable development. The president made the remarks when meeting heads of news agencies and answering a question by President of China's Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao, who asked about concrete plans and measures aimed at further recovery of the Russian economy. In order to overcome a series of difficulties, in particular a series of sanctions leveled on the country, Russia has carried out a number of economic polices. "This year, annualized inflation is five-odd percent and this happened after the increase of the value-added tax. This is better than we expected," Putin said. In addition, Russia achieved a notable trade surplus last year and capital is starting to return to the Russian market, he added. Putin attributed the progress to the implementation of Russia's national projects on key development trends. In February, the Russian government said it planned to spend over 25.7 trillion rubles (395 billion U.S. dollars) on projects in a dozen of areas outlined in the national strategic development plan for 2019-2024, which was given the green light by Putin in May. | 
