TASS. In January 2017, real disposable income of Russians rose 8.1%, the indicator grew for the first time in two years, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Oreshkin claimed Thursday at a congress held by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE).
"This is a very important indicator that opposed to two previous years the positive trend in January was recorded in such item as real disposable household income that jumped 8.1%," Oreshkin pointed out. He noted that such strong metric is driven by the one-time payment of pensions, but if it is excluded, it will rise around 1%.
The minister pointed out that the annual pace of inflation in Russia totaled 4.4% as of March 13. This is below the ministry's forecast, Oreshkin added. "The positive factor is that recovery of economic activity has not undermined those objectives that we pursue in terms of inflation. The inflation rate continues to slow down steadily, and as of March 13 it has already reached 4.4%...The current numbers are lower than the forecast made by Ministry of Economic Development or the Bank of Russia," Oreshkin said.
