Yevgeny Goryunov, Head of the Gaidar Institute's Monetary Policy Department, commented for Izvestia on the November decline in real consumer spending in Russia. In his opinion, the observed slowdown in spending is directly related to the overall dynamics of the economy.
"Spending continues to grow in nominal terms, but at an increasingly slower pace. This is accompanied by a slowdown in inflation (currently at 4-5%, according to seasonally adjusted estimates of current inflation) and a slowdown in money supply growth. The main factor is the slowdown in income growth following the economic slowdown, which is mainly caused by the Central Bank's high interest rate," the expert noted.