Putin wants to raise the minimum wage by 18.5 percent
Against the background of the war in Ukraine and the forthcoming presidential elections next year, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has announced that the Russian minimum wage will be increased by 18.5 percent. “On January 1, 2024 we will make another increase – and 18.5 percent (…), which is well above the rate of inflation and rising salaries overall,” said the Kremlin chief on Friday at his appearance at the International Economic Forum in St Petersburg. Inflation in Russia is currently 2.9 percent.
In addition, Putin promised to pay mothers child benefits up to the age of 1.5 years – regardless of whether the mother has gone back to work or stayed at home in the meantime.
At the economic forum in St. Petersburg, Putin wants to demonstrate that the local economy has survived the consequences of the war against Ukraine that he ordered, one year later. The country is neither isolated nor have the western sanctions ruined the economy, said the Kremlin chief. The social promises also serve to reassure one’s own population. As a rule, Putin hardly or not at all mentions the massive crises that parts of the Russian economy – above all the automobile industry – have been going through since the beginning of the war.