Chris Doss The Russia Journal --------------------------- Number of Russian poor goes down slightly ITAR-TASS
Moscow, 24 April: Statistical data and sociological studies show that the living standards in Russia are growing not as quickly as desired, the newspaper Trud reported yesterday.
The number of extremely poor people decreased by 16m in the first quarter of
this year compared with the corresponding period of 2001. Nevertheless, it is an extremely alarming fact that there are still more than 40m poor people in
the country today.
The per capita cash income of Russians, according to the State Statistics Committee, amounted to 3,295 roubles a month. The average monthly wage grew to 4,172 roubles or by 20.6 per cent (taking into account inflation adjustments).
The cash income of Russians in real terms, i.e. with inflation adjustment, grew by 10 per cent during the past two years. In absolute figures the growth is much bigger: the average per capita cash income amounted to 1,876 roubles
in March 2000 and 3,295 roubles in March 2002.
The advance indexation of pensions made it possible to increase their average size to 89.5 per cent of the subsistence minimum in 2001. And finally, last February, it was possible to boost the average size of pensions to slightly more than 1,322 roubles and the subsistence minimum to 1,313 roubles.
The task, which President Vladimir Putin set a year ago, is already fulfilled and this is a very important achievement, the newspaper stresses.
Nevertheless, the social consequences of the August 1998 "collapse" have still not been fully overcome. The average February 2002 income of Russian citizens was still below the 1997 level (by 16 per cent) and the 1998 level by 9.5 per cent.
The further growth of wages and incomes, Trud points out, should proceed in parallel with a corresponding growth of labour productivity. Otherwise, the payment of unearned money will be resumed again, which is bound to boost inflation and destabilize the economy.