Medvedev: Russians’ 2019 real disposable income may grow 0.2–0.3%

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Russians’ real disposable income is an essential issue for the government, and it may grow 0.2–0.3% in the entire 2019, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told TV channels in a yearend interview on Thursday.

“First, this is a crucial topic… The most important thing is the people’s real welfare, real income, or, as economists say, real disposable income… It is highly likely that we will have not a fall, but a rise here, although not very significant, some 0.2–0.3%,” he said.

Russia’s economy and social sphere have weathered 2019 normally and stably, Medvedev also said.

“It is difficult to express the year’s results in a couple of sentences. The results are always accompanied by real figures, so it may be boring in some way… Generally, our economy and social sphere got on absolutely normally and stably this year.”

Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will increase 1.3–1.5% in 2019, Medvedev said.

“Our economy has developed this year, although the rate of this development was lower than we wanted. The highest growth figures that we project may be at 1.3 to 1.5% of GDP. We expected that the beginning of work on the national projects will need some warm-up, and we hope to reach a higher and more stable growth rate thanks to the measures we’ve taken and new steps we plan to make,” he said.

Russia’s budget surplus will amount to around 1.8% of GDP in the year, he also said.

“We have a budget surplus. We believe that the surplus will amount to around 1.8% of GDP, it is also a considerable safety factor, which allows us to look confidently into the future.”

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