Economy and War Russian News
Let me start with the economy, which is doing great if you ask Russia's official word. BBC reported that the number is growing despite sanctions. Yes, a militarized economy does grow, to a point, but it is on the butter side of the equation that it does not. So take this into account when reading this piece:
“The forum is not international, the economy is weak and archaic, import substitution is bad.” Andrey Movchan exposed Putin’s myths at SPIEF
Putin used the main session of SPIEF to distribute carrots against the backdrop of a sharp increase in taxes: he promised to raise the minimum wage to ₽22 thousand (from 19 thousand), mortgages at 6% for all families with children, and a 5% income tax for IT specialists. He called the Russian economy fourth in the world, although according to the main indicator it is 60th.
The forum, where instead of the leaders of France and Germany the main guests were the presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe, is “not at all international,” economist Andrei Movchan stated on the air of the “Air” program. “More foreign organizations and states gather at the international forum,” says the expert. “And here are guests from allied regimes discussing their internal problems.”
“The goal is to show ourselves that the country is not in isolation” and that the economy is developing well. The expert described the Russian economy as “weak and archaic” and called the market primitive.
Movchan considers Gref’s calls for increased labor productivity, voiced at the forum, to be meaningless in the context of growing isolation. “ For lack of other goods, production in Russia is poor and expensive ,” says the economist. “But since they buy it, no one will do it well and cheaply.”
The future of the economy and business is unpredictable due to war and instability: “Even if some businessman decides to reduce costs and improve quality, this requires investment and time. How much time can a businessman count on if he doesn’t understand what will happen tomorrow? Will there be peace or not?
Officials and Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova reported on the success of import substitution, but this is also a myth. “ Russia is bad with import substitution, and this is very good for it ,” the economist notes. “ All countries that seriously mastered import substitution quickly went into an economic dead end , but Russia has a chance to maintain international cooperation.”
So here is this from the Petersburg Forum. It is a curious piece when you honestly look at it. First, taxes are going up like crazy. This is normal in a militarized economy. When we are forced to go to war, our taxes will also increase exponentially. I know this; any history student knows this.
It means that people have less disposable income as well. The quality of life does go down. This is the usual process.
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