Putin grills officials on Russia’s economic woes
Vladimir Putin (Photo: REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin chaired a government meeting
on economic
issues and demanded explanations after macroeconomic indicators fell short
of government and central bank forecasts, state propaganda agency RIA Novosti
reported on April 15.
The meeting included Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The Kremlin released only Putin’s opening remarks; the rest of the session was closed to the public.
Putin pressed officials to explain the “discrepancies” between forecasts and actual figures, saying the shortfall was not simply the result of calendar, weather or seasonal factors. “Not only [those factors] determine business and investment activity in the country,” he said.
He also acknowledged that Russia’s economic momentum has weakened for two consecutive months. “Overall, for January–February GDP contracted by 1.8%,” Putin said, adding that manufacturing, industrial output, and construction were all in the red.
The Moscow Times earlier quoted Sberbank’s senior managing director, Mikhail Matovnikov, as saying the country’s economic situation has sharply deteriorated.
On April 13, Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service
said Russia had entered a recession, citing the construction sector as the most
telling indicator of the crisis.
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