Stagnating growth, weaker rouble, less jobs
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development is reluctant to publish the latest economic forecasts for the country. A ministry official indicates however that next year’s growth will drop, the rouble weaken and inflation increase. At the same time, figures from the Ministry of Health indicate a strong growth in unemployment.
Prime Minister Putin this week announced that he was postponing the announcement of the government’s new anti-crisis plan with two weeks. The reason is that the Ministry of Economic Development is reluctant to make public its latest forecasts, newspaper Kommersant reports.
According to information from Deputy Minister Andrey Klepach, however, growth will next year drop to 3,5 percent, the rouble weaken to 35 RUB/1 USD and inflation increase to up to 15 percent, the newspaper writes.
At the same time, new figures from the federal Ministry of Health indicate a major increase in unemployment. Only in November this year, unemployment rose with 500,000 people. That is a 15,8 percent increase year-on-year. A total of 1,498 million Russians are now officially without work.
By 2009, the official unemployment will increase from 6,1 percent to 7 percent, Kommersant reports. By March 2009, another two million people are likely to lose their jobs, the estimates show.
