2 Of 5 Struggling

From the MT:

“2 in 5 Russians Can’t Afford Necessities – Poll”

(Russians’ real disposable incomes have stagnated in recent years while inflation is driving up prices for groceries and other commodities.)

Nearly two out of every five Russians have avoided buying necessities because they can’t afford them, according to a survey by the independent Levada Center pollster published Wednesday.  Russians’ real disposable incomes have stagnated in recent years, and the coronavirus pandemic and inflation have hit businesses hard and driven up prices for groceries and other commodities. A Nielsen survey published in March said that Russians were more likely to see financial hardship as a result of the pandemic than households in other countries.

Thirty-nine percent of Levada’s respondents said they have forgone basic groceries and other essentials in the past six months because they can’t afford them versus 60% whose spending habits went unchanged.  Among the 39% of respondents who “barely have enough for food,” some 75% couldn’t afford to buy the groceries they needed and nearly 90% couldn’t afford to make major purchases for their homes. More than a third of respondents (37%) said they have noticed an increase in prices for goods and services, Levada said. Some 31% said they expect that prices will rise faster than their current rate in the next 1-2 months, while 8% believe that prices won’t change and 2% expect them to decrease. According to state statistics agency Rosstat, Russia’s annual inflation hit 6.5% in June, the highest rate since August 2016.  Earlier this month, Russia’s federal antimonopoly service vowed to conduct unscheduled inspections of major retail chains due to complaints over price increases.   Levada conducted its survey by interviewing 1,619

^ Today the average Russian only makes 17,000 Rubles ($230) a month. The decline started when Putin illegally invaded, occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine and then started fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 - when the International Community put Sanctions on Russia.

Things became even more difficult for ordinary Russians when the International Community tightened the Sanctions due to Putin's interference in the Elections of different countries, poisoning his opponents in different countries and hacking the important infrastructure of different countries.

Covid has only added to the already desperate situation the vast majority of ordinary Russians currently find themselves.

Sadly, Putin (as the Russian Dictator) calls the shots and the ordinary Russian suffers and struggles to buy the basics while Putin spends $1.2 Billion Dollars building himself a Palace on the Black Sea. ^

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/25/2-in-5-russians-cant-afford-necessities-poll-a74888