Putin: Russian economy shows good results in tough situation

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian economy performed well in 2021 and even exceeded the pre-pandemic level, while the situation in the rest of the world was tough, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a government meeting.

“I would like to note that the Russian economy demonstrated a good result last year against the background of a tough global situation. The Economic Development Ministry estimates the gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 4.6%. Thus, the national economy did not only completely compensate the fall of 2020, but outperformed the pre-crisis level,” he said.

Revenue growth of Russia’s budget continues in 2022 helping the country launch new measures to improve the economic and social spheres.

“Last year the federal budget had a surplus of 0.4% of GDP. I would like to remind that last year we had a deficit of 3.8%. Non-oil and gas revenue stood at 16.2 trillion rubles, and revenue in the fourth quarter outperformed the government’s forecast by over 20%,” he said, adding that the growth picks up, with non-oil and gas revenue rising by 27% on the year in January.

Nevertheless, the government has to ensure stability of the key macroeconomic indicators and a balanced state of state finances. It is also vital for the government to improve the potential for economic growth because the 2021 growth was mainly a recovery, and experts say that its momentum is already fizzling out, he said.

INFLATION

Inflation has become a serious challenge for many countries of the world, and in Russia, the consumer prices grew by 8.7% on the year in January overshooting the central bank’s target of 4% significantly.

“It is worth saying that the situation in the so-called developed market economies are not much better,” he said, adding that annual inflation in the U.S. amounted to 7.5% in January, and in the E.U. it reached 5.1%.

Still, the government that together with the central bank play the key role in reducing inflation, has to take efficient measures to rein prices in, he said.

(75.0141 rubles – U.S. $1)

End %%md/jst%%