Russia’s economy is in freefall as wages plummet and almost 500,000 people are working fewer hours and Vladimir Putin is trying to hide the truth from Russian citizens.
People in the country are also having to settle for poor-quality substitutes for western goods amid the hefty sanctions and also as a result of global firms pulling out of Russia.
Natalia Shapoval, Vice-President of the Kyiv School of Economics wrote in her report, entitled the “Impact Of Sanctions On The Russian Economy,” suggests that the real wages in the Russia fell by 6.1%, and in April the this was even worse as they dropped be -7.2%.
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Shapoval report added, “Russians became more impoverished only in 2015, after the annexation of Crimea and the first Western sanctions and the fall in the oil price, which triggered a collapse in the RUB and a rise in inflation.”
Shapoval told Express.co.uk, “The real wage is falling merely with price increase.
“But other factors include the exit of foreign companies resulting in less working hours and lower average wage; significant reduction in production in some indicators (auto, transport etc).
“Yet, some industries decreased average wages too – for example, production of furniture, electronic equipment etc.”
She added, “We also observe an increase in competition for vacancies on the job search websites.
“More than 492,000 people (estimated based on a sample of workers working in international companies) are likely to be working fewer hours.”
She continued, “This is because there is a deficit of imported quality western goods.
“These goods are substituted either with local products of lower quality or with Chinese products – which are cheaper as they are lower quality.”
She does not believe that there would be civil unrest as a result of worsening conditions, adding, “It is unlikely – given current polls with close to unanimous support of Putin and of war – that there will be a rise in civil unrest.
“At least before the number of dead soldiers gets very high and Putin tries to force military mobilisation in regions closer to Moscow.”
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