Putin reads out data on Russia's "success" in economy from a cheat sheet: how he lies about pensions and tariffs

On December 14, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin boasted of the "achievements" of the Russian economy during a "direct line" event, reading them out from a paper. According to him, Russia is increasing its Gross Domestic Product, and citizens do not need to fear accelerating inflation, although in reality millions of Russian families have to cut back on spending due to a significant rise in prices. In addition, it turned out that the Kremlin either does not know or is lying about how many times utility rates and pensions have been raised in Russia.

After the question "What can you be proud of in the economy?", Putin pulled out a paper from his folder. "I brought the calculations. There's nothing here that we don't know," the dictator said, carefully examining the document, which he had probably never read before.

"The most important indicator of economic growth is GDP growth, which is expected to reach 3.5% by the end of the year. This means that we have recovered the decline of last year, which was 2.1%, so we have made a serious step forward. Inflation has risen (it is expected to reach 7.5-8%), but the Central Bank and the government are taking measures," Putin read out.

He also said that the level of the Russian economy is allegedly "sufficient to not only feel confident but even to move forward." At the same time, he admited that he was talking primarily about the development of the military economy, not the welfare of his citizens.

"The margin of safety is provided by many factors: high consolidation of Russian society, stability of the financial and economic side, and the growth of the capabilities of our power component, namely the army and security agencies," Putin said.

The Russian president also did not deny that wages in Russia are growing unevenly, "Real wages will grow by an average of 7%. Not for everyone, but this is an average."

The dictator also addressed the issue of excessive profits of Russian banks, which outrage ordinary Russians. According to Putin, this should make Russians happy. "Banks will earn more than 3 trillion rubles ($33.5 billion). This is good news for people who keep money in Russian bank accounts," Putin said.

As a reminder, analysts of the authoritative publication The Economist warned that Russia's economy may not be able to withstand the rising costs amid limited supply and rising inflation. The reason is that it is in a state of dangerous overheating. After all, GDP growth in 2023 will primarily be ensured by financing the Russian military machine. And this creates huge risks for the future: the budget deficit is growing, there are fewer and fewer funds for social programs, the ruble is weakening, and inflation is hitting ordinary citizens. At the same time, the civilian industry is already short of workers.

Putin miscalculated tariffs and pensions

In addition to outright manipulation of macroeconomic indicators, the Russian dictator has demonstrated his disconnect from the realities of ordinary Russians. In particular, Putin said that in the past year and a half, utility tariffs in Russia "have not been raised even once," while pensions have allegedly been indexed three times.

In fact, in 2022, utility bills in Russia rose twice - in June by 4% and in December by 9% - although there was no increase in 2023. As for pensions, Putin mentioned the correct number of recalculations, which is three. However, for some reason, he did not specify that the "threefold" increase did not apply to all pension payments.

For example, social pensions in Russia were raised once: on June 1, 2022, by 10%. They were raised again by 3.3% in April 2023. And the third increase affected only the pensions of working pensioners: they were raised by 4.8% in January 2023.

As reported, one of the recent demonstrations of the failure of Russian economic policy towards its citizens was the shortage of eggs. In a number of regions, Russians have to queue up at 5 a.m. to buy the necessary product from a truck, just like in the Soviet era.

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