Page 37 - RusRPTAug21

was spent on treating patients in hospitals, another 108 billion was spent on testing. The funds allocated to support the population and enterprises amounted to at least 515 billion rubles. Some funds from the budget were directed directly to the organization and provision of medical care to patients with COVID-19 – about 189.452 billion rubles.
Rosstat updated its data on oil & gas sectors’ share of GDP and found that it fell from 19.2% in 2019 to 15.2% during the COVID crisis in 2020. Perhaps indirectly, the data release reveals how empty the regime’s economic narratives post-Crimea proved to be of much content. Use World Bank data as a comparison — in 2019, oil rents accounted for less than 9.5% of GDP per its own calculations, having peaked in 2000. While natural gas subsidies to other sectors can produce large figures, they probably can’t make up the rest of that % gap (though to be clear, they aren’t necessarily measuring the same thing). What it means, however, is that pre-crisis the oil & gas sector were still driving about 1/5th of economic activity with a higher proportion of tax revenues and leading role maintaining domestic investment levels as consumer spending power has fallen since 2014. Rosstat just admitted indirectly that the diversification process was held up by its own contradictions — a then suffering oil & gas sector had to provide wealth transfers to other sectors in desperate need of development via taxation or price subsidy, but ended up taking up a greater share of GDP since relative investment levels into oil & gas have risen compared to value-added production since 2014. The % share of the economy follows the oil price, reflecting stagnation:
37 RUSSIA Country Report August 2021 www.intellinews.com