Weakened by Western sanctions, low oil and the resulting collapse of the ruble, Russia tries to raise its head. The Moscow government has launched a 9 billion euro anti-crisis plan, as announced by the Minister of Economy, Alexei Uljukaev.
The Russian press writes that the plan includes 96 points divided into four chapters: aid to the regions (which alone are worth 3,7 billion), support to the sectors most in difficulty (automotive) or priority (agriculture), social measures and structural reforms.
The countermeasures taken by the federal government aim to reverse the trend as soon as possible GDP, which according to the International Monetary Fund will drop by 2016% in 1, after -3,7% in 2015.
In 2015 there was then a boom in the unemployment, which grew by 7,4% reaching 5,8% of the active population, i.e. 4,42 million people.
As for the real wages, fell 9% in the first 11 months of last year, while inflation has reached record levels: estimated at 12,9% in 2015, after 11,4% in 2014.
The economic situation was discussed today by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Security Council, emphasizing the need to compensate for the drop in imports from within, while his spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated that for now there is still no solution for foreign currency loans.
This last aspect of the crisis is not secondary, because it affects the living conditions of many Russians who have taken out foreign currency loans and who are now requesting the conversion of the loans into national currency, after the Russian currency has collapsed to over 83 rubles for one euro.
PwC today published the results of its annual opinion poll of 107 CEOs of the largest companies in Russia: the main threat in 2016, according to 92% of respondents, is precisely the volatility of the exchange rate.
