The Russian economy contracted last month because of pressure in some of the non-oil sectors, a report from the Economic Development Ministry found. The ministry reported growth in gross domestic product in July was 1.5 percent, which marks a slight slowdown, but still an improvement from the negative GDP from last year. “Weaker dynamics of agriculture, industry, trade, which was partially offset by growth in construction, contributed to slowdown of economic growth results in comparison with April-June,” the report, as cited by Russian news agency Tass, read. “The July data is hardly worth interpreting as a change in the positive trend.” The ministry said some acceleration was expected in the second half of the […]