Amid the current worldwide economic crisis, “Russia’s GDP has fallen by 3.6%, which is less than in the leading EU countries, and less than in the United States. Its industrial production is down 3% now — mainly due to oil, the OPEC Plus deal and cuts in oil production, while processing industries showed 1.1% growth in November,” Vladimir Putin said at an annual news conference, presidential web page reports.
“Over the past few years, Russia’s agricultural industry has posted good figures, and now it is somewhere around up 1.8%. Agriculture might not even show a decline for the year, but an increase of up to 2%,” he noted. “The banking sector is in a very satisfactory condition, with profits estimated at about RUR 1.3 tln ($17.3 bln) for the year. This definitely testifies to the financial system’s stability. Real wages will grow by about 1.5% by the end of the year across Russia, although unfortunately, there will be a decline in real disposable incomes by around 3%. Unemployment rate in Russian was 4.7% at the beginning of 2020; now it has grown to 6.3%.”
Yet “A positive trade balance can be considered a good indicator. It creates conditions for good macroeconomic development. The national debt had been at its lowest at $70 bln. It shrank by another $10 bln since. Russia borrows less in foreign markets, while regularly servicing all its loan obligations. Hard currency reserves have grown. At the beginning of this year, they amounted to $554.4 bln; as of December 4, they are about $587.7 bln. The same holds true for the National Wealth Fund which was RUR 7.7 tln ($100 bln), now it is almost 13.5 tln.”