An old woman counts money in a purse.
Photo: Ivan Makeev
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Inflation Fuels Consumer Spending
The consumer-market spending accounted for 54.2 percent of the June income of Russians, said the country’s statistics authority Rosstat. The analysts see the key reason of it in the general unpredictability and high inflation.
The income of population averaged 15,552 ruble in June, having stepped up by 24.9 percent on year. The average salary went up 28.6 percent on year to 17,808 ruble and the growth was 11.7 percent in real value.
As to the income structure of the second quarter of 2008, the share of social transfers widened by 0.1 percent on year to 11.9 percent and the share of revenues generated from property increased from 7.7 percent to 8 percent, while the share of entrepreneurship revenues and of labor remuneration slid to 9.5 percent and 68.7 percent respectively.
The consumption structure has changed during the period, as “the consumption pushes out saving and cash money of the population, said Igor Polyakov, the leading expert at the Center of Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting. The Russians spent 54.2 percent of the income for buying goods in June (up 2.2 percent; the turnover increased by 30.5 percent), Rosstat reported. The growth happened for the account of decline in cash money of the population – its share slid from 5.1 percent to 2.3 percent on year as of June 2008.
The population tends to save money (9.9 percent) and the costs for compulsory payments widened as well. “The increase in saving share in spending of the population triggered the growth of ruble deposits,” Polyakov pointed out.
The change in the structure of income is “the factor of high inflation,” explained Alexander Morozov, chief economist of HSBC Russia. “With the slowdown of real income growth, the nation has to shift to consumption of more vital goods, bringing the foodstuffs to the first place. Although the growth of deposits continues, the inclination of people to saving and cash money is going down,” Morozov specified.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 01, 2008
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