ST. PETERSBURG, June 7. /TASS/. The US consumes $1 trillion a year more than it produces, this is what neo-colonialism is about today, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"They have a current trade account deficit of a trillion dollars. What is this? I think, everyone will understand what I’m talking about. This is neocolonialism in its modern version," he said.

"Using the monopoly position of the dollar, the United States consumes a trillion dollars a year more than it produces. They seem to be pumping out these resources from other countries," the head of state stressed.

Putin also recalled how, during the pandemic, the United States and the EU printed huge amounts of money and began buying goods around the world, which caused food inflation to jump.

"What did they do next? They distributed these pieces of paper within the country. And then they began to buy food products on the world food market. Like vacuum cleaners they swept everything to themselves. And for the first time in many years, they became not importers, but became buyers, importers of food products. And immediately food inflation has jumped all over the world," the Russian President noted.