Deputy PM: Russians must prepare for high joblessness, low income

DAVOS, Jan 23 (PRIME) -- Russia must get ready for unemployment growth in the near future, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told reporters Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

“Many do not see the current situation as a series of shocks, but this is a wrong understanding of the situation. We should be ready that people will go to the market as jobless, that we will have to adapt them to the new conditions,” Shuvalov said.

Russia is going through the deepest ever crisis. “Many see what we are going through now as not so bad as in 2008, but the difficulty of what we are going through now is significantly higher, the feeling of dire events is deeper,” Shuvalov said.

The government is discussing with President Vladimir Putin an anti-crisis plan which Shuvalov characterized as measures to help people and businessmen adapt to a low-income life, he said without elaborating.

The Russian economy entered a structural crisis even before the Ukrainian turmoil, Shuvalov said. “My assessment is … the trouble with the Russian economy is that the modernization agenda which appeared due to the 2008-2009 crisis, was soon diluted and changed as soon as oil prices rose,” he said.

While the Ukrainian crisis cannot be solved by any politician fast, the Russian government must immediately set the target of fulfilling reforms.

“The main aim for the government is to conduct reforms to demonstrate promptly that one can cooperate with us in spite of the ruble weakening.”

Structural reforms must be completed within three years, he said.

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