Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to reassure on Wednesday about galloping inflation in the country, while announcing an increase in pensions and social minima to cushion the drop in income of Russians.
“
I propose to increase the amount of pensions for non-working pensioners by 10% from June 1 this year
,” he said during a meeting with the Council of State.
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The Kremlin occupier said that with indexation carried out since the beginning of the year, the increase in pensions was “
higher than the level of inflation
”.
The latter reached 17.8% annually in April, a record in twenty years.
The president also assured that "
according to experts, the growth of inflation has slowed (...) by the end of 2022, it will not exceed 15%
".
He also promised to increase social minima from June: the minimum wage will increase by 10%, to 15,279 rubles (240 euros at the current rate), and family allowances, especially for military wives, will be increased.
The effects of unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow are beginning to weigh on the Russian economy.
Record inflation, coupled with an increase in the use of partial unemployment in order to avoid layoffs, is seriously undermining the purchasing power of Russians, who have a low savings rate.
The Russian government forecasts a contraction of 7.8%-8.8% of GDP in 2022, with the Central Bank being more pessimistic, with a decline of 8-10%.
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