Page 56 - bneIntelliNews monthly country report Russia May 2024

($2,130) in addition to their sign-up bonus, which is now up to five times that amount. In general, however, median salaries have remained around 50,000 rubles per month ($533), based on data from job postings.
4.5.3 Retail sector dynamics
5.0 External Sector & Trade 5.1 External sector overview
Consumer demand in the economy at the beginning of 2024 is supported by a combination of factors such as rising wages (against the backdrop of record low unemployment), increased budget spending (has become the norm since 2023), as well as continued, albeit at a lower average rate, growth in retail lending .
The share of exports at the end of 2022 reached 27.7% of GDP with an average indicator of 27.5% for 2011-2022. In monetary terms, exports of goods (91% in the structure of external supplies) and services from Russia in 2023 decreased by 27% year-on-year – to $465.4 billion.
This happened due to the redirection of a significant part of the export, mainly raw materials, to the markets of friendly countries — the share of the Russian oil and gas sector in GDP at the end of 2023 decreased to 16.5% compared to 18.8% in 2019.
According to estimates by the Center for Strategic Research, the share of exports and imports to unfriendly countries decreased from 55% in 2021 to 16% in 2023, and imports – from 26% to 7%. It is predicted that by the end of the decade, Russia's trade turnover with these countries will fall fivefold. Additionally, last year, raw material revenues decreased amid negative market conditions in dollar prices and a slowdown in global trade (-5% year-on-year), despite the ruble's depreciation by 20% compared to the average value of 2022.
The share of imports in GDP recovered from a record low of 15% in 2022 to 19% in 2023 or 32 trillion rubles (in 2011-2021, the share of imports on average was more than 20%). Consequently, the share of net exports (exports minus imports) in the structure of GDP fell to a minimum since 1997 – 4.3% compared to 12.8% in 2022. Vladimir Putin previously instructed the government to reduce the share of imports to 17% of GDP and increase non-raw material non-energy exports from the country by two-thirds by 2030. According to Maxim Oreshkin, this will allow Russian companies to occupy the
56 RUSSIA Country Report May 2024 www.intellinews.com