Comments

Natalia Kornienko, Head of the Fiscal System Development Department, Gaidar Institute commented to the Profil magazine on growth drivers of illegal trade in tobacco products in Russia.

The natural population decline in Russia has reached a million people over the past 12 months, which is an all-time high in the history of this country, URA.ru reports. Senior researcher at the Center for Political Economy and Regional Development of the Gaidar Institute Konstantin Kazenin noted the high mortality rate among elderly citizens.

Increasing demand and rising prices in the world food market have been observed for several years already, and the Russian government has implemented, as of now, a package designed to protect the domestic market from global food inflation. In an interview with Izvestia, head of the Gaidar Institute’s International Trade Department Alexander Knobel expressed his confidence that the measures launched at the government level would make it possible to reduce the impact of the unfavorable global food market situation, since they have already proved to be effective.

On October 4, Igor Efremov, researcher at the Gaidar Institute’s International Research Department of Political Demography and Macrodynamics, took part in a live discussion with Prav!Da radio program that focused on migration issues. The discussion participants spoke on the air about its effect on the economy, and whether labor migrants are really needed in view of growing unemployment.

It is not unlikely that the European Union may establish a single body to conclude contracts for gas supplies to the EU countries. Andrey Kaukin, Head of Industrial Organization and Infrastructure Economics Department of the Gaidar Institute, told IA REGNUM correspondent. This is how he commented on the statement made by the Head of ECB, who called for uniting for the sake of "saving" the prices of natural gas.