Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the budget for the next three years. Before the discussion, the President recalled the high unemployment rate and named the main challenges for the country's economy.
In particular, the Russian leader noted that the priorities of the new three-year budget should take into account the challenges faced by the country due to the coronavirus epidemic.
"In most countries, many production and construction projects have stopped, and the turnover of trade and services has fallen. Unemployment has also increased to a critical level in some places, " Putin said.
He recalled that in April, Russia's GDP fell by 12 percent, and in May, the decline was 10.9 percent.
The President noted that the authorities "gave a shoulder" to certain sectors of the economy, businesses, and working people across the country. Putin said that with many measures of support, the government "hit the nail on the head." In particular, effective solutions include direct payments to families with children, increased unemployment benefits, and tax write-offs.
However, he admitted that it was impossible to solve all the problems, so the Russians felt the consequences of the crisis. In particular, the unemployment rate has increased. Putin said that three million people were registered in employment centers across the country.
"When we significantly raised unemployment payments, of course, many of those people who had not worked before for a number of reasons, did not come to the relevant services for these funds – when they grew, people came there," he said.
The President noted that these people were still out of work, despite the fact that companies were returning to their usual working hours: they canceled part-time work, and returned employees from forced vacations.
Putin said that the main task of the country in the economy was to restore employment, provide people with opportunities to work, earn money, and provide for their families. According to him, the labor market should fully recover in 2021.
The President stressed that all tools, including the Federal budget, should be used to increase employment.
Putin said that when forming a new budget, it was necessary to reflect the requests of Russians who voted for changing the Constitution.
"We must take into account their moods, take them into account in a specific way for the three-year budget period. It should correspond to the spirit and letter of the updated Constitution, " the head of state noted.
He called for maintaining responsible policies, including both the budget rule and the regulation of the inflation rate, in order to clearly balance and increase the stability of the economy.
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from RIA Novosti