Belousov says Russia’s economy starts to decline

MOSCOW, Apr 13 (PRIME) -- Russia’s economy has started to decline due to logistic limits and lack of liquidity, but the labor market has not been hurt yet, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov told the Federation Council, parliament’s upper house, on Wednesday.

“One of the major risks today is the fall of the economy due to both logistic limits and the lack of liquidity. Polls of the heads of the systemically important companies have shown that the decrease has started although it has not yet hurt the labor market,” he said. 

The official also said that the government plans a 7–8 trillion ruble support of the Russian economy through subsidized loans.

“We have macroeconomic limits, in which we operate. I can say that we have set the limits which allow us to work without accelerating inflation, which amount to around 7–8 trillion rubles if we speak about the overall loans and lending using every channel,” he said.

Belousov said that the retail core goods stocks have recovered to a normal level, and the situation is stable and under control. Inflation has slowed down to 0.66%, he added.

Belousov said that Russia is in talks with its key foreign partners on creation of secure payment settlement infrastructure basing on the national currencies.

Russia has re-registered 571 foreign planes out of 781 aircraft under its jurisdiction, he also said.

Belousov said that most foreign companies operating in Russia do not want to leave the market.

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