The Russians tend to spend their savings and take loans more actively. Deposit accounts don’t protect savings from the inflation, which is higher than the average interest rate, whereas loans become more lucrative. The real wages in Russia have been falling during the last three months with retail turnover gradually growing. As Rosstat (Russia’s State Statistics Office) reports, in Q1 the food items turnover grew 1.2% and non-food items turnover – 8.3%. The real income has lost 2.9% in Q1 and 3.4% in March. Inflation growth has accelerated and reached 9.5% (versus 7.2% three months ago).
Source: www.retail.ru