A record decline in real wages and income in 2015, which led to the reduction of physical consumption of goods, was offset by the changing preferences of citizens, writes “Kommersant” with reference to a series of macroeconomic research of the Russian Analytical credit rating agencies (ACRA). According to research, the fall was softened due to the “quality of food consumed, road safety and domestic comfort”.
According to the Agency, the physical consumption of non-food products last year decreased by 20%, food by 4.2%. The calorie intake per capita in per dollar spent has not decreased. The shift occurred in the direction of increasing consumption of bread, potatoes and dairy products at the expense of vegetables (except potatoes), fruit, fish, seafood and alcohol. “In the future, a possible further shift of consumer preferences in the direction of cereals, flour, oil, seasonal vegetables and sugar,” the analysts suggest.
And cheaper durables steel demand in 2011, two years later, this trend spread to products.
In the field of non-food items has also changed: increased the lifetime of durable goods. The researchers also noted the aging of the fleet, and the main cause of this phenomenon they called the lag of the rate of utilization of the speed of purchase of new cars. State income and conservative consumer expectations they called less important reason.
The average area of apartments in Russia have also decreased from 2009 to 2015, according to the ACRE, it decreased by 19%. However, the supply of housing on human and people’s satisfaction with living conditions still continue to grow, experts said.
According to Rosstat, in April 2016, real disposable incomes of Russians in annual terms fell by 7.1%, and for the period from January to April, real incomes fell by 4.7%. Thus, April was the worst for the real incomes of Russians by month from the beginning of 2016 and may 2015, when the income of Russians compared to may 2014 decreased by 7.7%.
Earlier, Rosstat brought data showing that real incomes in March 2016 fell 1.8% in February to 4.5% in January to 5.5%. In the first quarter, real income declined by 3.9%. Compared to March, real income in April this year increased by 8%. The average monthly charged wage in April 2016, according to Rosstat, amounted to 36.2 thousand rubles and in comparison with April 2015 increased by 5.4% in nominal terms. In real terms, the average wage of Russians in April in annual terms fell by 1.7%.
