Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an yearly televised phone-in with the country's citizens dubbed "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" astatine the Moscow's World Trade Center workplace successful Moscow connected June 30, 2021.
Sergei Savostyanov | Afp | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin connected Thursday said that ostentation is simply a occupation facing Russia, and that the country's system is overheating.
"There are immoderate issues here, namely inflation, a definite overheating of the economy, and the authorities and the cardinal slope are already tasked with bringing the tempo down," Putin said successful his yearly "Direct Line" Q&A league with Russian citizens connected Thursday, successful comments translated by Reuters.
Russia's user terms scale deed 8.9% successful November year-on-year, up from 8.5% successful October. The summation was driven principally by rising nutrient prices, with the outgo of beverage and dairy products soaring this year.
A weaker ruble — pursuing caller U.S. sanctions successful November — has besides fueled inflation, driving up the outgo of imports into Russia. A monolithic summation successful subject spending has meantime caused labor, proviso and accumulation shortages elsewhere, with workers demanding higher wages.
"Of course, ostentation is specified an alarming signal," Putin noted successful further comments reported by Interfax and translated by Google.
"Just yesterday, erstwhile I was preparing for today's event, I spoke with the chairperson of the Central Bank, Elvira [Nabiullina] who told maine that it was already determination astir 9.3%. But wages person grown by 9% successful existent terms, I privation to stress this — successful existent presumption minus ostentation — and the disposable income of the colonisation has besides grown," helium said.
Russia's cardinal slope is wide expected to hike its benchmark involvement complaint by 200 ground points to 23% — the highest level in a decade, up from the 20% seen during the penetration of Ukraine successful 2022 — connected Friday, amid stubbornly precocious ostentation successful the war-centered economy.
Putin blamed planetary sanctions for terms rises, but besides appeared to knock the cardinal bank, saying experts had suggested that different tools could person been utilized to tame inflation, beyond involvement rates.
"Of course, outer restrictions, sanctions, and truthful connected besides person an interaction to a definite extent. They are not of cardinal importance, but they are inactive reflected successful 1 mode oregon different [in the emergence successful prices], due to the fact that they marque logistics much expensive," the caput of authorities said, according to comments reported by quality bureau Tass and translated by Google. "But determination are besides subjective [factors], and determination are our shortcomings."
"We should person made these timely decisions. This is an unpleasant and atrocious thing, successful fact, the emergence successful prices, but I anticipation that, successful general, by maintaining macroeconomic indicators, we volition header with this too," Putin said.
He added that the authorities and the Russian cardinal slope were tasked with delivering a "soft landing" of the economy, which helium insisted was performing good wide and could execute 3.9-4% maturation this year.
The International Monetary Fund predicts Russia volition notch 3.6% maturation this year, earlier a deceleration to 1.3% maturation successful 2025.
The "sharp slowdown," the IMF said, is envisaged "as backstage depletion and concern dilatory amid reduced tightness successful the labour marketplace and slower wage growth."
On Thursday, Putin predicted that Russia's economical maturation should beryllium 2-2.5% adjacent year.
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