Putin: Russia to protract food import ban as long as possible

MOSCOW, Nov 22 (PRIME) -- Russia will prolong its food import ban for as long as possible, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at a forum of the All-Russia People’s Front.

“Now, I would like to say an unexpected, maybe even a ‘criminal,’ thing, but the consumer is interested in receiving good quality goods for the lowest possible price, so we have to create competitive conditions. Consumers agree with that even more than producers…and I can tell you a secret that we will protract (the countermeasures) as long as possible,” he said.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated to their worse since the Cold War due to a military conflict in Ukraine. The West introduced sanctions against some Russian individuals and firms and further against the energy and banking sectors. In response, Russia limited food imports from some countries, including the U.S., the E.U., Canada, Australia, and Norway.

Putin said that Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) may contract by 0.3% in 2016, but agriculture will expand by 3% in the year.

Inflation will amount to 5.7–5.8% in 2016, and the effective work of agriculture will help it. “In fact, our retaliation measures against so-called sanctions have freed the local market for agricultural producers, and we’ve connected this with the development of agriculture. Unfortunately, the measures led to a slight increase of food prices in the short-term, but it was inevitable,” he said.

In 2015, Russia’s inflation exceeded 12%, but now annual inflation amounts to only 4.7%. The lowest inflation figure of 6.1% was reached in 2011.

“This year, it will most likely to be less than 6%, and this is good. It happened thanks to an effective work of agriculture. Why? Because the price growth index for food has fallen sharply, has contracted,” Putin said.

Russia’s Economic Development Ministry sees GDP decrease of 0.6% in 2016 and inflation of 5.5–6%, while the central bank forecasts inflation at 5.8%. The Federal State Statistics Service says that GDP fell 0.7% in January–September, and consumer prices grew 4.5% in January–October.

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