Posted on 09/05/2025 5:47:57 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
President Vladimir Putin denied on Friday that Russia's economy was stagnating, despite a report from the central bank that suggests it is technically in recession.
In a speech to an economic forum in the Pacific port of Vladivostok, Putin defended the central bank's use of very high interest rates, currently at 18%, to tackle inflation - a stance fiercely criticised by business leaders and bankers.
A graph published in a central bank report this week showed Russia's gross domestic product shrank for two consecutive quarters, a standard definition of what economists call a technical recession.
Sberbank CEO German Gref, one of Russia's most powerful bankers, said on Thursday that the economy was in "technical stagnation", and the central bank needed to slash rates.
Asked whether he agreed with Gref, Putin said: "No. He knows, we are in constant contact with him. He participates in many of our meetings, which are held, including those with me, with the government, and the central bank."
Gref is a long-term associate of Putin and drafted the president's first economic strategy in the early 2000s.
The central bank did not elaborate on its graph showing two quarters of shrinking GDP. The statistical agency estimated GDP contraction at 0.6% in the first quarter on a quarterly basis, but has not yet published data for Q2.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Is Sberbank CEO German Gref in danger of accidentally falling out of a four story apartment window? Or is he too important to suffer such an accident?
I know that you posted this derogatory of putin, but in fact it is derogatory of those cheering this.
Nice job. /s
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