Putin called weak demand and a decrease in trade turnover negative trends in the economy

President Vladimir Putin at the meeting drew attention to the decline in retail sales in Russia. In his opinion, weak consumer demand and falling sales are negative trends in the economy. The head of state believes that sanctions pressure will increase and therefore called on the government to prepare “flexible, effective action plans for both the near and medium term.”

“I want to note some negative trends in the economy. Thus, consumer demand is still weak. We talked about it a lot. Now let’s talk in more detail. There are nuances here that require attention on our part,” Mr. Putin said. His words are quoted in website Kremlin.

The President said that in August retail sales fell by 8.8% in real terms, “and in September this dynamics has decreased even more.” In the last week of September, “trade turnover declined even in nominal terms.” “And as I said, this topic will need to be discussed separately. I would ask you to report on what is proposed to be done for the stable operation of the consumer sector, for its progressive growth,” Putin added. The head of state also drew the attention of the government and the Central Bank to the need to ensure a sustainable recovery of macroeconomic dynamics, although, in his opinion, in general, “the situation is stable.”

Among the positive factors, the head of state noted the return of industrial production to the level of last year after a four-month decline, as well as the gradual recovery of industries “which found themselves in the most difficult situation, such as the automotive industry and metallurgy.” In addition, agricultural production increased by 4.6% in January-August, the volume of construction work in August increased by 7.4% compared to the same period in 2021.

Mr. Putin noted that inflation fell to 13.5% last week. He drew attention to the fact that in the euro area the figure is 10%, in Germany – 10.9%, the Netherlands – 17.1%, Latvia – 22.4%, Lithuania – 22.5%, Estonia – 24.2%.

On the situation in the Russian economy – in the material “Kommersant” “Demand is not enough even for supply”.

Leonid Uvarchev