Decline of living standards has been stopped - Peskov (Part 2)
MOSCOW. Dec 31 (Interfax) - The Kremlin considers putting a stop to declining living standards for Russian citizens to be the main success of 2019 and sees the "modest" rate of Russian economic growth as the main failure, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the press on Tuesday.
"The president traditionally says he could hardly single out any one achievement, considering that the wellbeing of the people is the primary objective," Peskov said.
"It is true that for objective reasons, living standards in Russia have been either faltering or declining in the past three to four years; it has been a negative trend. The trend has been stopped this year; we cannot say for now that any substantial growth has been achieved, but still the trend is now upward," he said.
This is happening against the backdrop "of absolutely guaranteed macroeconomic stability," Peskov said.
"Perhaps, the main achievement is that the Russian economy, despite the unfriendly, let's say, atmosphere, in which it exists, and the social sector, as well, retain their stability," he said.
"The point is that growth rates [for the Russian economy] remain modest, and everyone is talking about the fact that they are dissatisfied with these rates of growth," Peskov said in reply to a question about the main failure of 2019.
There are plenty of reserves to catch up with rates in this sphere within the next few years, he said.