Page 7 - RUSRptApr17

The Moscow talks held special significance in signposting the likely course of relations under Trump, who has blown hot and cold on Russia during his presidential campaign and since his election, but signalled that he wants a new and pragmatic relationship with Moscow.
Before the talks, Tillerson expressed hope for a “very open, candid frank exchange so that we can better define the US-Russian relationship f rom this point forward”.
Hours before the Moscow talks began, both sides also drew their respective lines on some key issues: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated Moscow’s continued support for Assad, while Tillerson telephoned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on April 11 to reiterate US support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the fulfillment of the Minsk Accords to end the conflict in East Ukraine.
The US secretary of state also stressed that no trades would be conducted with Russia to resolve the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and that the sanctions should be maintained until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is fully restored.
2.2 Watcom shopping index stabilising
Moscow’s Watcom shopping index negative trends stabilising, but still underperforming.
The disappointing negative trends in retail in Russia’s capital continued in the first quarter of this year, but have started to stabalize, according to the Watcom shopping index.
The Watcom shopping index ended 2016 on a strong note with footfall in Moscow’s leading shopping malls increasing to just below the 2015 levels. But the index got off to its worst start in three years in the first weeks of 2017, as bne IntelliNews reported last month.
The following weeks 9-15 have not been much better and the index is still well below the levels seen in the last three years , finishing week 16 at 493.58 – well below the index levels of between 508-556 in the previous years.
The Watcom index is the most immediate and direct measure of retail activity in Russia as it measures the number of shoppers and their spend in real time using 3D camera technology placed in Moscow’s leading malls.
Analysts at Watcom explain the dip on inflation and the on-going fall in real disposable incomes , despite a big one-off pension payment in January that sent real disposable incomes (inflation adjusted income after food and utilities are subtracted) spike to over 8% that month. The January boost in real disposable income doesn't seem to have changed shopping habits as the trend returned to the red in February and March with declines of 3.8% and 2.5%. So while the contraction in the amount of spare cash Russians have for little luxuries is slowing it is still negative and Russians are still preferring to saving over spend.
Retail sales turnover contraction also continues to improve with retail
7 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com