Mishustin’s report in the State Duma: what became the main thing in the Prime Minister’s speech

The stability of the Russian economic system is the best assessment of the work of the government

Yesterday, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin delivered an annual report on the work of the government to the State Duma and answered questions from parliamentary factions. Vladimir Klimanov, director of the Center for Regional Policy of the RANEPA, commented on the speech of the head of the Cabinet of Ministers to our publication.

The uniqueness of the current moment is that in the reporting period Russia experienced an unprecedented shock of external pressure, which the country has passed, although external pressure has not disappeared, and in some areas will even increase. Now it can already be recognized that the government was able to maintain macroeconomic stability in such difficult conditions and did not overshadow the issues of incomes of the population and work with the population. The very fact that the stability of the economic system of our country, contrary to the forecasts that were formed last spring, turned out to be high and is the best assessment of the government’s performance over the past year. This was the main point in the Prime Minister’s report.

The Prime Minister placed the main emphasis on the social aspects of the government’s activities, on its desire to improve the incomes and quality of life of Russian citizens. Achievements in this aspect are obvious: despite the difficult conditions, pensions were indexed steadily, the minimum wage has been growing and continues to grow, the system of providing benefits is being significantly simplified, and the unemployment rate has reached a historical minimum. Great attention in the report of the government was given to health, education and culture.

No less detailed was the review of achievements in individual sectors and sub-sectors of the economy, as well as in the mechanisms for supporting economic development as such.

Along with the sectoral approach, the government also applies the territorial approach in its work. Work with the regions was covered separately by the prime minister, and in this topic the most striking examples concerned work with regional finances. In particular, the use of instruments of interbudgetary relations, new for our country, aimed at supporting infrastructure development and reducing the debt burden. In addition to the traditional geostrategically important territories of our country – the Far East, the Arctic, the Crimea, the North Caucasus – new subjects of the Russian Federation were added in the spring 2023 report.

It is clear that the government needs to be ready to respond to further pressure on a variety of fronts. Russia has chosen a course for a new economic model associated with ensuring technological sovereignty. All possible difficulties and pitfalls in this area are not yet known – therefore, along with global challenges, it is also necessary to solve local problems related to the state of individual industries or even specific production. The authorities should strive to create new capacities that produce products that are in demand in the face of reduced imports of goods, and generate revenues for the budget, which will be based to a lesser extent on oil and gas revenues. Possible solutions to ensure this may be related to the occupation by domestic business of niches occupied by foreign companies leaving the country, and the return of organizations with Russian roots from abroad. The facts cited by the Prime Minister about the multiple growth in the number of companies that have acquired a “propiska” in special administrative districts in the Kaliningrad region and Primorye confirm the existence of such prospects.

If we judge the future directions of work, then we need to understand that the aggressive actions of unfriendly countries in relation to the Russian economy remain and will increase. Therefore, the work of the Cabinet in the near future should be aimed at improving the economic situation, focused on ensuring technological sovereignty and developing a new economic model that is emerging in our country. External factors can also have a negative impact in the form of the global economic crisis, which can significantly change the balance of economic forces in the countries of the world.

I believe that in his speech the Prime Minister should have touched on some complex or not always unambiguous issues. In the report, I would like to hear about the prospects for building economic relations with various countries under sanctions, including China, which occupies a leading position in the world economy, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Cooperation, and with the African continent, because the intensification of such work is already visible. More attention should be paid to the problem of emigration of part of the business and certain groups of the population. It does not interfere with the country and the deputies to know the assessment of this phenomenon by the government.

And one more thing that can be seen from the results of the Prime Minister’s speech. We are pleasantly surprised by the high efficiency of ministries and departments, the promptness (urgency, as the report says) of responding to external challenges that manifested itself just last year. The prime minister himself called such activity a staff mode of operation. I would like this best practice to continue in the future, all the more unfriendly pressure and new emerging problems for the government in the medium term cannot be avoided. It’s too early to relax.