Russians’ real disposable income fell by 1.3% in the early 2019, the Federal Service for State Statistics (Rosstat) reports.
In January, the inflation-adjusted real income was 98.7% of January 2018 and 99% of January 2017. As compared to December 2018, it fell by as much as 50%. At the same time, the cash income somewhat increased: in January 2019 it was an average of RUR 24.4K ($372), which is a 4% growth. As compared to January 2017, the growth is just 1.7%. The average monthly salary increased by some 5% and was RUR 41K ($626) in January. The real wages remained the same.
Russian’s real disposable income have been falling since 2014. In 2018, it fell by 0.2%, in 2017 by 1.2%, in 2016 by 5.8%, in 2015 by 3.2% and in 2014 by 0.7%. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin said that the income growth in 2018 would be 0.5%, and Prime Ministry Dmitry Medvedev promised thrice as much.
“The real disposable income of Russian citizens will grow by 1.6% this year,” he said in the late 2018.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov believes that the problem lies in Rosstat’s measuring methods.
“Russians’ real income is the most important issue and is included in the presidential executive order. Rosstat has its own way to calculate it and this way is awful,” he said.