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Russia. It is like disinformation that all the companies left and these companies are not present. They are here, they are working and they are working good," Agee said. "We simply keep a low profile, [we] do not want to openly state that all of us are here," he noted.
4.4 Fixed investment
4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Investments in fixed capital in Russia moved up by 14.5% y/y in the first quarter of 2024, the Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported. Investments totaled 5.93 trillion rubles ($66.2bn) over the reported period. Fixed capital investments as of 2023 year-end gained 9.8% y/y and amounted to more than 34.04 trillion rubles ($379.6bn).
Russian unemployment reached another record low of 2.6% in April, according to the latest data from RosStat, down by 0.1 percentage points month on month, and being yet another sign of the continuous economic overheating. (chart) As followed closely by bne IntelliNews, in the wake of the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, mobilisation and the brain drain it has caused, Russia faces a mounting labour crisis as worker shortages grow and the labour market shows the lowest number of young workers since the early 1990s.
At the same time real wages in March continued to outpace inflation, growing by 12.9% year on year in real terms and by 21.6% in nominal terms. Inflation accelerated to 8.2% y/y as of June 3 RosStat and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade estimated.
GDP in April grew by 4.4% y/y after 4.2% in March and by 0.2% m/m, excluding seasonality, the ministry said. GDP already grew 5.1% y/y in January-April 2025, compared with 3.6% for the whole of 2023.
“The economy is still running too hot, which is adding to the central bank’s challenges in tackling inflation. Further interest rate hikes are likely, including the potential for a 100 basis point hike at the next meeting on Friday [June 7] (to 17.00%),” Capital Economics commented.
While the data point to only a slight slowdown in economic growth this year, the continued labour market tightness remains an argument for additional
74 RUSSIA Country Report July 2024 www.intellinews.com