Number of Russians unhappy with their finances increases - statistics agency
RIA-Novosti
July 7, 2009
The Russian Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat) has reported its latest figures for people's assessments of the current economic situation in Russia and consumer confidence. According to a report by RIA Novosti news agency on 7 July, Rosstat announced that the number of Russians who are dissatisfied with their financial situation increased by 7 per cent in the second quarter of 2009, whilst fewer people have come to expect further deterioration.
"The proportion of respondents who believe that their financial situation has worsened has reached 58 per cent; the proportion of positive assessments has decreased to 9 per cent (51 per cent and 13 per cent respectively in the first quarter)," Rosstat reported on 7 July, citing the results of its research.
Generally (according to 73 per cent of those who gave negative responses), a reduction in earnings and other income influenced the deterioration of the situation.
The proportion of those expecting an improvement in their financial situation during the next calendar year, according to Rosstat's findings, is around 8 per cent, as in the first quarter of the year.
"At the same time, a smaller number of respondents predict a deterioration of their financial situation (29 per cent against 42 per cent in the first quarter)," Rosstat noted.
Almost half of those surveyed (more than 47 per cent) believe that their financial situation will not change in the next 12 months, Rosstat reported.
At the same time, according to a report by Interfax on the same day, Rosstat also reported that the level of consumer confidence in Russian increased slightly in the second quarter of 2009. After the first quarter, when it fell to its lowest value for 10 years, the index rose by 3 percentage points to minus 32 per cent in the second quarter.
The improvement is connected with the relative increase in the proportion of people's positive assessments of the changes in the country's economy which are expected in a year's time and of their own financial situation.
The index of expected changes in Russia's economic situation for the short term reached minus 15 per cent in the second quarter, an increase of 12 percentage points compared with the preceding period. Around 17 per cent of those surveyed pointed to possible positive changes in the economy, compared with 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2009. Almost half of respondents link these expectations to the effectiveness of the government's programmes. However, 36 per cent of respondents expect negative changes in the economy (48 per cent in the first quarter).
The proportion of respondents referring to a deterioration of the economic situation in the country exceeded 80 per cent of the number surveyed (compared with 83 per cent for the preceding quarter).