Mubasher: The Russian economy grew more than expected last year owing to higher expansion in the construction segment, official preliminary estimate showed on Monday.

On an annual basis, Russian gross domestic product (GDP) rose 2.3% last year, after growing 1.6% a year earlier, the state statistics service Rosstat said.

Last month, the Economy Ministry raised its GDP growth reading last year to 2% from 1.8%, citing a massive expansion in construction activity.

Construction sector growth for the 11 months of last year was revised upwardly to 5.7%, well above the previously reported 0.5% expansion, according to Rosstat.