The Russian economy keeps recovering despite sanctions, GDP growth for the first five months of 2023 totaled 0.6 percent, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.
"The country's economy keeps recovering, I would even say, confidently, despite the sanctions, all the obstacles put in our country's way. Just now, while preparing for [a meeting with] you, I looked at the figures - for [the first] five months today our GDP growth amounted to 0.6 percent. But, what is very important, May on May is 5.4 percent," Mishustin said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said the government is confident that in the absence of force majeure circumstances, by the year-end, GDP growth should exceed 2 percent.
Mishustin also cited low unemployment and inflation rates as signs of a healthy Russian economy, noting that unemployment is around 3.1% and inflation is below 5% year on year.
"Regarding inflation, you know all the figures very well, at the beginning of July it was 3.4 percent. Year on year... it will not exceed 5 percent, according to experts. We will be watching," Mishustin said. "[A]nd the labor market. Here you know the situation well. Let's say, the historical unemployment rate of 3.1-3.2 percent," Mishustin noted.
Putin considers Russia’s economic indicators encouraging
The present situation in the Russian economy is better than projected earlier, which holds the promise of fulfillment of all tasks charted, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
Commenting on PM’s words that all social obligations to citizens will be met in the future, Putin stressed: "It is very important." "But equally important is the fact that the results we have... are better than expected earlier, better than forecasts. This holds the promise of fulfillment of all tasks... at least within a year," he added.
Russia comments on grain deal extension
Russia sees “no grounds” to prolong the Ukrainian grain deal past its July 17 deadline, the country’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The UN-facilitated agreement, formally known as the Black Sea Initiative, has failed to meet its original goals of steering grain towards poor nations, the ministry claimed. Instead, it has become a “purely commercial” scheme that ships produce to wealthy countries, while Russian food and fertilizer exports remain blocked.
With the grain deal set to expire later this month, the collective West, Ukraine and even the UN itself have ramped up their “propaganda activities” on the matter, the ministry said in a statement.
“The arguments boil down to claims that, without Ukrainian fodder corn, the world will die of starvation, while the illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by the West against Russia do not apply to food and fertilizers,” it noted.
In reality, the grain deal has become a “purely commercial” mechanism to export Ukrainian produce to “well-fed” countries instead of those experiencing food insecurity, the ministry continued. Some 81% of produce shipped from Ukraine under the deal in the past year ended up in countries with “high and upper middle income levels,” it said, adding that the world’s poorest countries, including Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia, accounted for only 2.6%.
Meanwhile, the situation regarding blocked Russian food and fertilizer exports “continues to degrade,” the ministry noted. The five “system” goals envisioned by the Russia-UN memorandum remain unmet.
They include allowing Russia’s major agricultural lender, Rosslekhozbank, back onto the SWIFT payments system, enabling deliveries of spare parts for agriculture machinery, reanimating the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, sorting out insurance and logistics, as well as “unfreezing” Russian assets. The first three goals are effectively “no longer on the agenda anymore,” while no tangible progress has been shown on the other two, the ministry said.
Against such a backdrop, Moscow sees “no grounds” to prolong the grain deal, the statement concluded. Originally signed on July 22, 2022 and intended to last three months, the deal was prolonged numerous times over the past year, despite growing concerns repeatedly voiced by Moscow over its failure to provide any benefits for Russia.
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