MOSCOW, June 18. / TASS /. It is impossible to speak about the growth of poverty in Russia, although the number of people whose income has decreased is on the rise, said Russian Presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday, while commenting on the statement by the head of the Accounts Chamber Alexei Kudrin about the increase in the number of Russians living below the poverty line.
"We have a number of people whose incomes have decreased, slightly increased due to the external economic situation and a number of processes that occur in the Russian economy. At the same time, it’s impossible to talk about the growth of poverty in this case," said Peskov.
Peskov also considers the statements of Kudrin about the possibility of a social outburst in Russia due to the decline of living standards emotional and blown out of proportion.
"We cannot agree with the statements about some ‘outbursts’. Rather, we believe it to be emotional manifestations. That is, in terms of the existing problem this is of course well known, nobody hides it. However, we consider it wrong to see it blown out of proportion," Peskov said.
Peskov recalled, "The number of people whose incomes have declined slightly increased due to the external economic situation and a number of processes that occur in the Russian economy." "At the same time, in this case it is impossible to talk about growing poverty," he added.
He drew attention to the words of the president, who previously called the "problem of having people with incomes below the subsistence minimum the most urgent." "The implementation of many national projects is aimed at solving this problem. And the work is largely focused on solving it," he added.
Answering a question about how the World Bank, the Russian Central Bank, and the Fitch rating agency reducing the outlook for economic growth this year correlates with the authorities saying that national projects had a generally positive impact on national economic growth rates, Peskov noted that "in general, all these forecast operate in a quite narrow range, they do not promise growth rates above the global." The main disagreements among economists, according to him, "are focused on 2020 and 2021, this is the issue."
"It is obvious that the effect of national projects should be seen this year. It is also clear that the effect cannot exist for absolutely all parameters. For some parameters, the effect occurs in a more distant future - not in 2021 or 2022. All calculations, including the Ministry of Economic Development, speak for this," Peskov concluded.