China News Service, Moscow, April 3 (Reporter Tian Bing) When Russian Prime Minister Mishustin delivered the 2023 government work report to the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) on the 3rd, he stated that Russia's GDP grew by 3.6% last year.
Mishustin said that Russia will still face a difficult situation in 2023, and instead of weakening, external sanctions pressure on Russia has expanded. Western sanctions not only target large Russian companies and managers, but also target foreign companies, companies and organizations. Some experts said that the restrictions imposed by Western countries on Russia exceed the total sanctions imposed on other countries.
He said that despite the increasing pressure, Russia successfully passed the difficult period of initial adaptation. According to preliminary estimates from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.6% last year.
Mishustin said that last year, the implementation rate of Russia's main fiscal expenditures was close to 100%, which was the best result in recent years. Federal budget revenue exceeded 29 trillion rubles, an increase of nearly 5% over the same period last year, and the problem of long-term financing of large infrastructure was solved. Most importantly, the Russian economy is becoming less dependent on commodity exports, while non-oil and gas revenues have grown by a quarter. By the end of last year, Russia's unemployment rate had dropped to about 3%. In addition, Russian investment increased by 9.8% last year, the best record in the past 12 years.
Mishustin noted that one of the main challenges Russia faced last year was inflation. The government has taken a series of necessary measures to maintain economic stability and people's real income levels. Among them, in order to maintain the stability of domestic fuel, grain and other markets, the government decided to implement temporary restrictions on the export of petroleum products, as well as the export of durum wheat and rice, and implemented flexible export tariff policies for a variety of commodities. He emphasized that although Russia's inflation rate was higher than the target last year, due to a number of measures taken by the government and the central bank, the inflation rate still slowed significantly to 7.4%.
In the field of foreign economic cooperation, Mishustin said that Russia has successfully defeated the West's attempt to block Russia's foreign trade. Russia's trade volume with friendly countries has not only increased, but is also equivalent to the total trade volume between Russia and other countries in the world four years ago. Russia continues to expand cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and plans to deepen dialogue with other constructive organizations. He said that according to the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the government has approved the "Strategy for the Development of Foreign Economic Activities". (over)