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Publication in the community "Interesting news"

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Last fall, the head of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Alexei Kudrin presented the digest “Monitoring the achievement of national goals”, which the department prepared for report to Vladimir Putin. The document was compiled briefly, dryly, without comment, and reflects the rapid deterioration of the economic situation of our country in the first half of 2019.

National goals are listed in the “Main Areas of the Government of Russia until 2024” (abbreviated as ONDP), which form the basis of the May decree of May 7, 2018 and are a guarantee of the fulfillment of Putin's election promises. However, none of the tasks set by the president by the cabinet has been completed. Moreover, the government published its version of the People’s Democratic Party, taking the right to correct the president’s initiatives. Kudrin’s digest reveals such a picture that there can be no other conclusion - there is still a little such governance of the country, and Russia can say goodbye to a place in the top ten economies in the world.

The quieter you go, the further you'll get?

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a development strategy only in September 2018. This is 4 months after the May decree, and 4 years after the entry into force of the Law “On Strategic Planning” (FZ-172, 2014). The reason for the delay, apparently, was the clarification in the Cabinet of Ministers of the question of who should be appointed responsible for what. For some reason, the president was dutifully waiting. But he waited for a strategy not thoroughly worked out right down to the smallest detail, a document in the “in general” style.

And we all waited for the digest of the Accounts Chamber, according to which the Russian economy now has no hope, no prospects, not a single glimpse of at least something positive. This is not the "paid bark" of the opposition, this is the official report of the supreme audit body of Russia and the data of Rosstat.

Russians do not want to live, especially to live long

The Accounting Chamber counted: in the first half of last year, the country lost 198.8 thousand people. For comparison: in 2018, the decrease was 224.6 thousand for the whole year.

Life expectancy, according to the agency, has not changed much: there was a slight increase, from 72.7 years in 2017 to 72.9 years in 2018. Then, over the next five years, the duration should increase to at least 78 years, otherwise the current pension reform will fail . We do not grow life expectancy. Although this direction is one of the priority national goals.

The measures declared on paper in the form of raising the consciousness of citizens, calls for refusing to drink alcohol and tobacco, for increasing birth rates remain empty declarations, since they have nothing to do with the situation of ordinary people in reality. It is clear that it is not a good life that people refuse to give birth to children, abuse alcohol, ignore medical check-ups and prefer not to be examined at all, than to rack their brains about where to get money for treatment if “the doctors find something” from them.

Low income even with full-fledged work, high cost of living, excessive borrowing, forced labor in the shadow segment of the economy - this does not stimulate normal people to value their lives, and even more so to continue in their numerous offspring. Deputy Prime Ministers Olga Golodets and Tatyana Golikova, apparently, do not know about this.

Revenues fall, and mortgage rates rise

In 2018, household incomes showed a small, but an increase of 0.1%. In the first half of 2019, a collapse occurred - revenues collapsed by 1.3%. The poverty level rose to 13.5% compared with 12.6% the year before last, with a target of 6.6%. Poverty is income below the subsistence level. For a country with a population of almost one and a half million people, 13.5% is a monstrous amount.

The issue of providing the population with housing. Deputy Prime Minister Mutko was called upon to ensure the construction of a minimum of 120 million square meters of housing per year, according to the People’s Democratic Party. Such a quadrature would be enough for local happiness of about 5 million Russian families. But even in 2018, the target indicator was achieved only by 63%, and in 2019 the Central Bank of Russia reported a decrease in the issuance of mortgage loans by 13.2% (in total six months, 575.5 thousand loans were issued for mortgages). Not surprisingly, the national project “Housing and Urban Environment” declared a decrease in the mortgage rate one of the goals, but for some reason it is only growing.

Is Russia's technological singularity not threatened?

Technological development is the key to success of any country existing in technological civilization. But Russia, apparently, has its own path again. ONDP states that by 2024 the proportion of science-intensive organizations implementing technological innovations should reach 50%. For reference, in 2016 there were only a little more than 7% of such organizations. Responsible for this side of the life of the country were appointed Maxim Akimov, Yuri Borisov and Dmitry Kozak.

But by 2019, even the Accounts Chamber was unable to calculate how many innovative organizations are in Russia. Kudrin said nothing, there is no data on this item. How to understand this remains to be guessed.

From the word "halva" in the mouth will not be sweeter

By 2024, the president wants to see Russia in fifth place in the list of world economies, with GDP growth of at least 3.2% and inflation not exceeding 4%. To fulfill the dream, the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov was thrown. The main objective in achieving this goal was to create an attractive investment environment. So that the world’s rich and bourgeois stand right in line, trying to place their capital in the Russian economy.

However, GDP growth for the first six months of 2019 amounted to 0.7%. This is 5 times less than the target. And in order to stay even in the top ten world economies, the growth rate of Russian GDP should be at least 2%.

The failure is quite explainable, if we understand that the lion's share - more than 80% - of the country's economy is under the control of the government. Trillions of money go to offshore zones, the rich get richer, and all through the manipulation of government orders and export contracts. What kind of government is such an economy.

 No decrees, messages, national projects and straight lines will make ambitions a reality if you grind with your tongue, and not toss the bags. Russia is still in the first lines of the ranking of world economies only due to trade in natural resources. Revenues from which are deposited in the pockets of a small handful of oligarchs, but do not work at all for the benefit of the economy of a once powerful country. The worst thing in this situation is that it is precisely this situation that the ruling elite is quite satisfied with. Russia for them is a place, and which you can pump money, in the literal and figurative sense. None of them considers Russia as their homeland and the homeland of their descendants. 

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