Page 20 - RUSRptApr17

that shows him looking very gay, wearing heavy make-up under Russia’s extremist materials law , saying the image hints at “non-traditional sexual orientation.” Errr.. Duh. Yeah. The image will be added to the index of banned extremist material in 4,071 spot from a total of 4,074.
2.7 Polls & Sociology
Nearly a half of Russians – 45% – believe that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev should resign amid economic problems and recent claims about huge kickbacks and gifts received from connected businessmen, according to results of a new poll by independent Levada Center. Medvedev's approval rate has been declining steadily since May 2016, when 14% of respondents in a similar poll said they had "full confidence" in Medvedev, to just 3% in the poll released on April 26. Medvedev's declining approval rate can be explained by several factors, including increasing economic problems and the slow fading of the euphoria around the annexation of Crimea in March 2014, Levada Center sociologist Stepan Goncharov was quoted as saying by RBC.
Consumer confidence improves after March marks the eighth month of uninterrupted real wage growth and the 14th month of recovery, if corrected for few slips. Healing household budgets could not but spill over into more confident consumption patterns, as confirmed by the Rosstat consumer confidence index returning to 4Q14 levels and Public Opinion Fund/CBR’s survey indicating that the timing seems increasingly appropriate for big ticket purchases.
Retail non-food sales have expanded on annual comparison for the first time since December 2014 at +0.6% y/y. The turnaround in consumption, however, will be neither overly fast, nor too large. We expect that annual consumption growth, consistent with 2%-3% real wage growth and flat to slightly positive retail lending after adjusting for inflation, will be approximately 2%-3%.
20 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com