Today, Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference is held in Moscow at the World Trade Center on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. It kicked off at 12:00 MSK.
The 2016 press conference is 12th in a row for the head of state. The duration record was set in 2008: then the event lasted for 4 hours and 40 minutes, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
This time, a record number of the Russian and foreign journalists were accredited to the conference: 1437 media-representatives will have a chance to talk with the president.
Earlier, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the head of state, told about the topics that would be raised at the event. "Traditionally, the number one issue is our internal life, economy and the social sphere. The conditions, on the one hand, are difficult, there is a crisis, but on the other hand, the first signs of stabilization began to appear this year,’’ he explained.
"In the context of the Syrian issue, many are interested in the development of our armed forces. For the first time in many years our armed forces are participating in such large-scale cross-border operations ... This is a huge machine, which shows a brilliant harmonious work,’’ Peskov said.
Initially, the press conference was to be held the day before, but it was postponed in connection with the murder of Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov: Vladimir Putin attended a memorial service for the dead diplomat.
Commenting on the state of the Russian economy at the moment, Putin noted that the results of the work in this direction can be estimated only in comparison. The previous year the country’s GDP showed decline of 3.7%, this year there is also a decrease in average, but only 0.5-0.6%. In November, the growth of the economy was registered due to the growth in some sectors, such as engineering. The second indicator is inflation, which was quite high the previous year, including due to the problems of the import substitution in the agriculture. This year the inflation will look a bit different: it will be certainly less than 6%, most likely - 5.5%. This is a record low rate of inflation. The previous year the budget deficit was 2.6%, this year it will be higher, 3.7%. This is absolutely acceptable value. Practically, we have kept our reserves. Everything is alright with this indicator, it is a good insurance. The loading of transport is growing. The capital outflow’s decrease pleases, this can be seen in the dynamics. This year it will be 16-17 billion.
What are the problems? Of course, there are problems. It is necessary to ensure the economic growth and industrial production. The income of the population has decreased, and this leads to a drop in the consumer demand, and impacts investment. But a positive trend emerges here: we see the growth of the real wages in the real sector of the economy that inspires confidence.
The social sphere shows the positive dynamics in demography, there is a positive trend in the natural increase in population.
In general, we are proceeding in the framework of the plan, which was presented to the society: it is being implemented.
Answering the question about the subsidies for the agriculture, the President noted that it must not rise at the expense of the subsidies which are the anti-crisis measure, but at the expense of the natural demand. According to the head of state, now the agriculture shows good growth rates and is one of those industries, which pulls the GDP.
Speaking about the Russian technological backwardness, the president criticized the view of some experts about the insensitivity of the Russian economy to the new technologies. Putin said that it was the reluctance of businesses to invest in something other than the highly profitable export of resources. Nevertheless, the government is working on this issue. Firstly, the technology initiative was approved, the second, a comprehensive plan is being prepared. The high-tech zones with the special tax regime are being created. And it shows results. There has been no export of these technologies, and now we are exporting weapons to $ 14.5 billion, and products of the IT-technologies to $ 7 billion. Many industries are competitive, we are leaders in many of them, for example, in the peaceful nuclear technologies and defense industry. We must not give up, there is every reason to believe that we will be the leaders in many areas. We have to fit into the global trend of the technological revolution, and we have all necessary for this, including science and education.
