Page 8 - RusRPTApr21

The falling standard of living has been fuelling rising social tension, however, with Russian incomes still by far the highest in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and on a par with the lower end of EU members, the situation is still not explosive.
With the military modernisation largely complete the Kremlin has turned its attention to restoring the prosperity and in 2018 launched its 12 national projects that are designed to fix the problems with the economy and so should quell the social discontent. Originally the national projects programme was supposed to be completed by 2024 in time for the next presidential elections, but as a result of the crises in 2020 the deadline has been pushed back to 2030.
Other economic data published March 25 also showed the economy continues to beat expectations, registering smaller declines in output than analysts had predicted. The official unemployment rate fell below 6%, although economists say that is probably more connected with the government reducing unemployment benefits than a surge in job creation, and the true rate of joblessness is likely significantly higher, reports the Moscow Times.
Construction and agriculture were the only sectors of the economy to register growth in 2020, Rosstat said as cited by the Moscow Times. Industrial production fell by 2.9% in 2020. Retail sales slumped by 4.1% due to the nationwide lockdown last spring. Unsurprisingly, the consumption of paid services fell the sharpest, registering a 17.3% drop over the year.
8 RUSSIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com