Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 16, President Putin—who was joined by his special guest, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and moderator Dimitri Simes—presented a very upbeat picture of the development of the economy in spite of, or even as a result of, the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies. He noted that the Russian economy has grown by 3.3% in April and that growth for the year could reach 2%, while inflation is at a near low at 2.2%. Unemployment is at an all-time low at 3.3%, although Putin admitted that it remains still higher in some regions. He calls for new measures, including implementing e-commerce, to create new opportunities in these regions. He declared that trade with those countries that have not buckled under to U.S. demands is steadily on the rise.
“In general, over the past year, our merchandise exports have updated the record of a decade ago—amounted to $592 billion,” Putin said. “Almost a third of this amount—$188 billion—fell on non-commodity non-energy exports. Behind this figure is 6.4 million jobs and 2.2 trillion rubles in tax payments to the country’s consolidated budget.” He also described that the trade is moving in the direction of non-dollar exchanges. “Today, about 90% of settlements with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union are in rubles, and more than 80% of settlements with China are in rubles and yuan,” Putin said. “This means that the ugly international system, which was neocolonial in nature, has ceased to exist. Meanwhile the multipolar world order is being reinforced. And this process is inevitable.”
