PRESS: First time since 2009, Russians spend 50% of income on food

MOSCOW, Apr 19 (PRIME) – Russians spent half of their revenue on food in February for the first time since May 2009, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing a research by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

“The trend of the food share growth in households’ spending has emerged, logically reflecting the fact of the real income decrease… and poverty growth. It is known fact that the poorer a household is, the more of its budget is spent on food,” the research said.

Raiffeisenbank senior analyst Natalya Kolupayeva said that the lack of spending on non-food goods is also due to the absence of consumer confidence.

“Apart from spending on food, there are also monthly payments on consumer credits, mortgages and other obligatory spending. In such conditions the bulk of Russians either postpone the purchase of a car, expensive electronics, furniture, etc,” she said.

Spending on non-food goods can recover in July–December, according to the government’s basic forecast, she said. But the research said that real wages will continue to fall and people will be wary of salary or job cuts and will avoid non-essential spending for longer.

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