OREANDA-NEWS. January 19, 2009. Russia's GDP is to rise in the range of 0-2% in 2009 compared to 6% in 2008, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "Last year, Russia's economic growth came in at 6%. In 2009, we expect a positive value, but in the range of 0% to 2%", he said and attributed this to "estimates of the global economy and demand for Russian exports". He also noted that the Russian government will make every effort to maintain economic growth. Russia's government may need to allocate another USD 40 bn to support the banking system, Kudrin said and noted that the anti-crisis measures implemented by Russia are primarily designed to support bank liquidity and capitalization of the banking system. "This is the weakest point of the system for the economy. We have allocated significant resources of around USD 40 bn for bank capitalization. I believe that this amount will need to be doubled" – Kudrin said.