Russians began to grow faith in the bright future of the Russian economy, as soon as blood was shed in Ukraine - poll

28 June 2022, 12:26 | Economy 
фото с Зеркало недели

The war with Ukraine, Western sanctions and state propaganda have aggravated the mental health of the Russian society, which is increasing support for the authorities and faith in the country's beautiful future against the backdrop of a record economic decline. The Moscow times writes about it. " Faced with record inflation in 20 years, a new wave of falling real incomes and the disappearance of imported goods, Russians suddenly believe that the economy is now on the right track, showed a survey conducted monthly by "

On the one hand, assessments of the current state of the economy predictably collapsed. Every fourth person living in Russia believes that inflation in the country is twice the official rate and exceeds 30%; 71% complain that prices have risen “more than before”. The overall consumer sentiment index fell to a 6-year low (63 points in April) and only slightly recovered in the fourth month of the war (70 points in June).

However, the index of expectations regarding the future jumped as soon as blood was shed in Ukraine, and has only been growing since then.. Its current values \u200b\u200b- 107.7 points - are close to the record for the entire time of observation.. The country’s prospects were rated higher only in the patriotic frenzy of the annexation of Crimea (115 points) and during the 2018 presidential election.

People are waiting for a " Thus, the indexes of expectations for production and the situation with unemployment jumped to historical highs (140 and 81 points, respectively), and for own income - to a peak in 4 years (90 points).

The gulf between the gloomy present and the rosy future in the minds of the citizens of the Russian Federation has reached a record size for the entire time of observation - almost 40 points.

However, Russian people are not ready to endure for decades: they expect drastic changes for the better next year.

Economic difficulties coincided with the growth of political support for the authorities. This has already happened in 2016-2017..

“Back then, for a large number of Russians, the problems were clearly visible, but they seemed temporary,” says Stepan Goncharov, head of the applied sociological research department at the Levada Center..

It is noted that, for example, many in Russia continue to believe that foreign brands will return to the country..

" Even the chronically optimistic Ministry of Economic Development predicts two years of economic decline (by 8.5% in total) and a slow recovery that will stretch for years. The IMF expects an 8.5% fall this year and 2.3% next, and the Institute of International Finance a 15% fall in two years, predicting a crash that will wipe out 15 years of economic growth overnight..

The effect of sanctions will become more pronounced as they affect more sectors of the economy, Bloomberg Economics economist Scott Johnson warns.

As a reminder, Russia has defaulted on its sovereign foreign-currency debt for the first time in a century, the culmination of ever-tougher Western sanctions that have cut off payments to foreign creditors..

Источник: Зеркало недели