Meeting on economic issues

The President held a meeting on economic issues via videoconference.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,

Today, we are holding yet another meeting on matters from our economic agenda. Let me remind you that these regular sessions offer us an opportunity to assess the current state of affairs and the key trends in the real economy, finances, and the services sector.

Conducting a constant and comprehensive analysis of the current economic situation is imperative. It is something we always keep in mind, especially now, as the global economic environment is objectively becoming more complex and as global commodity and financial markets face serious volatility due to intensifying global competition.

We must not only monitor these factors and forecast changes; it is essential to seize the opportunities that open up for developing domestic industries, trade ties and exports, and to strengthen the Russian economy as a whole, so as to ensure steady and dynamic growth under any external conditions.

We discussed this in late 2024 at the meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects. We set an objective back then – it consisted of ensuring steady economic growth while reducing inflation and maintaining low unemployment. The statistics for the first months of this year prove that this approach retains its importance and relevance.

As you know, the Government, the Central Bank and experts all agree that this year’s gross domestic product growth will be somewhat lower compared to 2024. As a matter of fact, we have already discussed this, and this is what we wanted to achieve. We talked about achieving the so-called soft-landing with a view to maintaining macroeconomic indicators and, first and foremost, overcoming inflation.

In fact, GDP increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2025. Growth rates were higher for the processing sector, with an increase of 5 percent in January and February 2025.

However, inflation remains too high at over 10 percent. As I have already said, we need to put inflation on a steady decelerating path.

Special attention must be directed towards the housing construction sector. Regrettably, the number of new projects being initiated by developers is diminishing. This fact demands our particular focus, as the pace of construction directly affects housing affordability for citizens and impacts the launch and operational capacity of related industries – from the production of building materials to the manufacture of furniture and household appliances.

We previously agreed to maintain special oversight over the situation in housing construction and to devote necessary attention to a number of other areas as well. The Government has already adopted a series of decisions regarding this matter. Today, I request a report on their implementation and any additional steps required.

I should also note that housing and infrastructure construction are encountering the most challenging conditions – as evidenced by monitoring conducted by the Government subcommission on enhancing the resilience of the financial sector and certain economic sectors.

In this context, I must highlight that the credit portfolio of banks has similarly declined since the beginning of the year. For instance, over the first three months, the volume of ruble-denominated corporate loans on bank balances decreased by 680 billion rubles, while loans to individuals fell by 192 billion rubles.

Overall, the contraction in the credit portfolio has been offset for the economy by increased federal budget expenditures. Cumulatively, over January–March of the current year, the budget deficit reached 2.2 trillion rubles.

Of course, we must acknowledge – and we are aware of this – that our expenditures have increased by 25 percent compared to the same period last year. This was done deliberately to ensure that economic actors and all our agencies could undertake necessary actions promptly and in a timely manner, enabling smooth operations through to the end of the year.

Nonetheless, I reiterate: the rise in the budget deficit is primarily linked to adjustments in the expenditure schedule, as I just mentioned. Expenditures were carried forward to earlier dates – to the beginning of the year – so that both federal and regional authorities could expedite the launch of national project initiatives, settle contracts, commence construction works, and allocate funding. In any case, we must take this factor into account. Our economic policy must incorporate this approach.

Let us proceed to the discussion. The floor is given to Maxim Reshetnikov. Please proceed.

 

Kaynak: (BYZHA) Beyaz Haber Ajansı