Russia's Economic Development Ministry said Tuesday the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slow down to 1.3 percent this year after a higher-than-expected 2.3 percent in 2018.

The ministry said in a monthly review that the acceleration of the 2018 growth was largely due to one-off factors and was not sustainable.

In December, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said that the country's GDP slowdown in 2019 is due to the weak global economy and lower domestic consumer demand resulting from a value added tax (VAT) rise to 20 percent from 18 percent starting Jan. 1.

The mining, transportation, storage and construction sectors, as well as financial and insurance activities boosted the 2018 growth, while the contribution of agriculture was slightly negative due to a lower yield of some key crops, the ministry's review said.

January inflation accelerated to 5.0 percent year-on-year from 4.3 percent in December 2018, it said, forecasting that the figure will fall below 5 percent by the end of 2019 if the ruble remains stable.

Inflation will peak at 5.5-5.7 percent in March-May this year, it said.

Russia's central bank forecasted the GDP growth in 2019 at 1.2-1.7 percent and annual inflation in the range of 5.0-5.5 percent at the end of the year.