MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's economic slowdown is mainly being driven by domestic causes, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, singling out low labor productivity as a problem.
"We have to be clear: The main reasons for the economic slowdown are not external but internal," Putin said in an annual address to lawmakers and officials in the Kremlin.
Putin had previously blamed weak global conditions for Russia's economic slowdown. His government has since cut its long-term growth forecast to 2.5 percent through 2030, meaning Russia will lag behind the world economy and other leading emerging economies.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine, Editing by Timothy Heritage)