Putin says Russian medium-term economic growth guaranteed

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (PRIME) – Russia’s economic growth is guaranteed in the short and medium term, President Vladimir Putin said during an annual press conference on Thursday.

“Further development is already guaranteed for the medium and nearest prospect. The money has already been invested in these projects,” Putin said, adding that foreign direct investment reached U.S. $23 billion in 2017 so far, the highest result in four years.

The Russian economy is rising. “There is no falsification,” the president said and called the current inflation of 2.5% a record low.

The economy is struggling against the effects of 2014–2015 shocks, the oil price decrease and sanctions. “I can confidently say that the sanctions did not influence us as much as the oil price fall but still they had some effect.”

Putin said that his electoral program is almost ready although he is unwilling to present it at Thursday’s event.

“But I can tell you the main thing which I think the authorities and the entire society must be focused on. These are such issues, if we go into detail, as development of infrastructure, healthcare, education. This is, as I said, high technologies, higher labor productivity and no doubt, all this must be aimed at raising citizens’ income in order to raise the income of the people,” he said.

“You know, I have said many times before how I want to see Russia, both on public events and in more private discussions. I will reiterate that it must be very modern. The political system must be flexible, the economy must be built on high technologies, labor productivity must rise manifold,” Putin said.

End