Page 21 - bne IntelliNews Russia Country report May 2017

According to the survey, 70% of Russians would view Putin’s reelection in 2018 positively with 19% saying they do not care and 6% seeing that outcome negatively.
Two-thirds of Russians (63%) say Putin's actions correspond to what the respondent personally expected from him in 2012 when he won election for the third time against 24% who were expecting something else and another 13% that don't know.
Half of the respondents (52%) believe Putin listens to public opinion and is guided by its demands, another third (37%) believe he doesn't listen to the people and 11% don't know.
Putin approval rating falls 1ppt to 81%, only small moves in May.
According to the May poll from Levada Center (19-22 May; nationwide sample, 1,600 respondents) President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating edged down a notch to 81%, but remains within the 2016 range (80-86%). Changes to other readings were also small. Still, it is worth noting that the ratings for both the government (47%; +1pp; 2016 range is 43-51%) and for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (46%, +2pp; 2016 range: 48-58%) advanced for the second month, recovering after the March drop. Meanwhile, the share of respondents judging that Russia is “moving in the right direction” was up five points to 56% (2016 range: 45-56%), and thus is back to the top of the 2016 range.
Russia's Business Confidence Index in February remained stable for extraction at -1% (flat as compared to -1% in January), and to -1% for manufacturing (up from -3% in January), while sliding to -7% for utilities (-2% in January), the Rosstat state statistics bureau said in a data release on May 29. In seasonally adjusted terms, the extraction and manufacturing confidence indicators remained at -2% each, compared with 3% and -2% seen in January. After a boost to the confidence indicators seen in the beginning of the year, the confidence trend remained positive and stable. Similarly, the latest manufacturing PMI and i ndustrial output reports showed positive momentum on the output side maintaining after a strong start of 2016. Short-term outlook on output also remained stable in May, after declining for five consecutive months through December 2016 and jumping by almost 20pp in January. The number of executives optimistic about output growth in the coming three months exceeded the pessimists by 18% in extraction and by 26% in manufacturing, the report based on survey of 3,200 enterprises (excluding SMEs) shows. The evaluation of current economic conditions or conditions of companies did not change significantly and remained on a modest positively-flat trend (at -4% for extraction and -6% for manufacturing). The main factors limiting output growth have remained the same since 2015: respondents in manufacturing and extraction in February pointed to insufficient domestic demand, economic uncertainty and high taxation levels.
Three quarters of Russian are ok with Russia’s sanctions on EU agro-products. Most Russians believe the government imposed restrictions on the imports are more harmful to the West than they are on Russian, according to Levada Center. Imported goods have never been citizens for the main item of expenditure. Of the 75% that believe the sanctions are not harmful, 43% do not see any serious problems from the sanctions, while 32% - no problems at all. Those that see no serious problems in the sanctions were 53% in August 2015 and no problems 14%.
Russia’s relations with Turkey have improved dramatically in the last
21 RUSSIA Country Report May 2017 www.intellinews.com