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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that real incomes of the Russian people have begun to increase in the fourth quarter of 2022. He expressed optimism that this trend will continue to gain momentum throughout the year.
During his speech on June 16, Putin highlighted the modest but positive growth in people's real disposable incomes, emphasizing the importance of sustaining this upward trajectory. He expressed his hope that this trend would intensify in the coming months, bringing about further improvements in the financial well-being of the Russian population.
The Russian President also noted a decline in the poverty rate within the country and stressed the need to maintain this positive trend. In 2022, the poverty rate dropped below double digits, reaching 9.8%, and approximately 1.7mn people rose above the poverty line.
Putin emphasized that the financial capabilities of the state enable them to pursue a consistent approach to ensuring social justice, reducing poverty, and addressing inequality. He underlined the importance of maintaining this course and highlighted that pension and social benefit payments, as well as the minimum wage and livable wage, are outpacing price growth.
The President's remarks at SPIEF shed light on the positive developments in Russia's economy, particularly in terms of increasing real incomes and reducing poverty. While acknowledging the modest nature of the current growth, Putin expressed his optimism for the future and the government's commitment to social justice and improved living standards for its citizens.
On March 23, Putin signed off on a decree indexing regional minimum wage rates by an 18.5% increase as of January 1, 2024, a national increase from 13,743 rubles per month to 16,345 rubles. The increase is particularly significant given year-on-year inflation has slowed below 4% for the months of March and April.
The war will form in Russia a new social group of "young rich" -- military personnel who are being paid wages two or three times higher than the average. They have already become a macroeconomic factor, accelerating demand, and, accordingly, inflation, according to economists. The economic channel "Cold Calculation" indicates that the "rich young" hypothesis is not reflected in consumption statistics. The younger the group of the population, the more its consumer activity fell; only pensioners returned consumption to the level of 2021.
72 RUSSIA Country Report July 2023 www.intellinews.com