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February 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
All in all the problem is growing but as yet
only affecting 3%-5% of the population, as the rest of the population pay their bills on time. But the burden is increasing depending on
the region and the local climate, hitting the most vulnerable hardest. According to Rosstat, household spending on housing and communal services increased in 2014-2016 from RUB1,511 ($26.7) to RUB1,816 per household member,
or by 20.2%. That means the share of these payments in total expenditures increased from 10.3% to 11.3% in 2014-2016.
Given that nominal average monthly incomes were RUB38,400 ($679) in January, communal costs already take a big bite out of household incomes. At the same time the share of food purchases has risen from a boom-year low of about 35% to as high as 60% in the worst of the “silent crisis” of the last two years, and once communal charges are added in the average Russia has very little money left over.
Already under budget pressure, many regions have been cutting subsidies for housing and communal services, which has seriously increased the costs of the local population in
those regions. For example, in the Kursk region, communal charges accounts for a whopping 25.8% of paid services, and in neighbouring Orel 41.1%, in the Khabarovsk Territory 26.7%, and up to 45.8% in the Amur region.
The poor can afford these increased charges the least. In 2016, expenditures on housing and communal services for families in the lowest decile were 15.2% of all expenditures, reports Rosstat – well ahead of the national average share.
The debts of the population for housing and communal services, according to the Federal State Statistics Service, amounted to RUB111bn in 2014 and rose to RUB135.8bn in 2015, before the growth accelerated at the height of the “silent crisis” in 2016, reaching RUB270bn by October 2016, according to Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing Andrei Chibis. The full year numbers for last year are not in but the preliminary estimate suggests the debt has sextupled in the last three years and reached RUB645bn ($11.4bn) as of July 2017, according to the deputy minister, Vedomosti reported.
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