Page 58 - Russia OUTLOOK 2023

many regions that were already relatively poor to begin with – is much worse,
and will likely get worse still.

Falling inflation and a strong ruble has made Russians feel a little richer than
they are, but real disposable incomes are likely to shrink further in 2023.

The average wages in Russia increased to RUB61,879 per month ($994.519)
in September 2022 and was briefly over $1,000 a month in dollar terms during
the summer. The strength of the ruble was not lost on the FX-savvy population.

Nominal salaries have been rising at around 10% but set against the 12%
inflation there has been little gain made in real incomes in 2022.

If the CBR is successful in its campaign to bring inflation rates back down to
4% by 2024 then real incomes could grow again, but as the economy is also
expected to stagnate that will not necessarily feed through into an improved
quality of life.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law that establishes a
minimum wage for 2023 of RUB14,375 ($230).

The document was published on the official Internet portal of legal information.
According to the text of the document, in 2023 the subsistence minimum for
Russia as a whole per capita is set at RUB14,375, and 2024 at RUB15,049.

The increase comes at a time when for the first time in 20 years, global wage
growth has not been able to outpace inflation and has fallen by an average of
0.9%, and excluding China was down by 1.4%.

The maximum decline among the regions of the world is in Eastern Europe
(3.3%), where Ukraine made the largest contribution to the reduction of the
indicator and could lose some 15% of its jobs, according to the ILO. By
contrast, the biggest gains were recorded in the countries of Central Asia (up
2.5%) and the Asia-Pacific region (1.3%).

58 Russia OUTLOOK 2022 www.intellinews.com