The main task of the Russian government at the moment is the restoration of incomes of the population, which strongly declined in recent years, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said at the Gaidar Forum today.
"The theme of decent payment is key now. The restoration of incomes and consumption is a priority for us today. We refer it not only as a social problem, but it is the most important condition for the growth of our economy for us," Golodets stressed, noting that the lack of consumption and decline in purchasing power of the population is a serious problem for the economy, RIA Novosti reports.
Deputy Prime Minister criticized the employers, which understate wages to their employees.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, to date 4.9 million people in Russia receive pay lower than the minimum wage, and such understatement of wages leads to very serious consequences, the most important of which is the influx of low-skilled workers.
"According to various estimates, 7 million people from other countries continue to work in Russia. Such a large number of migrants, who are engaged in low-skilled labor, increases social costs," the Deputy Prime Minister noted.
"We must take a clear and distinct policy of refusal of low-productivity and low-wage labor," Golodets concluded.
The head of the Regional Banking Association, the chairman of the Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development, Anatoly Aksakov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the government has taken the right position, since ensuring income growth of the population, especially of low-wage workers, is necessary for economy. "They buy Russian goods, stimulating their production, and hence the economic growth. Alas, the government has rather limited opportunities," he said.
"Firstly, it is indexing of pensions and one-time payments of pensions in the amount of 5 thousand rubles. Secondly, indexing of salaries of public employees salaries, especially teachers, doctors, librarians. If this is done, we can expect to overcome an unpleasant situation, when real incomes have declined for two years," Anatoly Aksakov pointed out.
The option of introducing a consumer card is also possible. "This card will be given to low-income segments of the population. Using it, these people with incomes lower than the minimum wage could buy a certain set of goods produced in Russia. This idea has been discussed for a long time, it also requires fiscal costs, but this year it will not be implemented," the head of the Regional Banking Association, the chairman of the Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development said.
Professor of the RANEPA faculty of Finance, Money Circulation and Credit, Yuri Yudenkov, expressed confidence that the growth of population's income is nothing more than in this year's slogan for the government . "In my opinion, the government will not take any steps to increase incomes of the population this year. Now the Cabinet is busy reducing inflation: consumption declines if there are low incomes and, therefore, prices decline, stopping inflation," he explained.
"In this regard, there will be no growth of wages or income, because it is important for the government to slow down commodity prices. My personal view is that the statememt of Olga Golodets is a slogan. Our government has offered no mechanisms yet in order to achieve an increase in incomes of the population," Yuri Yudenkov stressed.
