Investments and attacks on Black Sea vessels. Putin's main words at the forum "Russia is calling!"

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the VTB investment forum "Russia is calling!" and answered questions from journalists. He assessed the state of the Russian economy and suggested developing a share placement program for state-owned companies. He also commented on the recent attacks on ships in the Black Sea, threatening Ukraine with retaliatory measures for piracy. What Putin told us is in the Izvestia article.

Sanctions

• Putin began his speech by pointing out the importance of competition for economic and business development. At the same time, he noted that the situation in the global economy has become turbulent due to the refusal of some Western countries to compete. Using their monopoly position in the financial sector, they impose unilateral sanctions and seek to put pressure on sovereign states for their policies. Putin said that, in fact, the West wants to eliminate competitors and preserve its privileges in a rapidly changing world.

• The President noted that in the past, Western countries had declared their rejection of command and administrative methods of economic management in favor of market-based ones. However, the sanctions they impose violate the market nature of the global economy. The fact that they are essentially using command and administrative levers suggests that such a policy will lead to nothing, Putin stressed.

• According to Putin, Russia feels external pressure, but it will successfully cope with these challenges and build a sovereign economic policy. At the same time, Russia will fulfill its obligations to foreign counterparties and increase cooperation with those states that are interested in this. Putin stressed that the majority of countries in the world act rationally.

The state of the economy

• The attractiveness of the Russian economy for foreign partners is ensured by its macroeconomic stability, Putin noted. He said that the country maintains a record low unemployment rate of 2.2%, which is a good result for the world's leading economies.

• Putin pointed out that Russia is fully financing its priorities, such as social obligations, defense and national security, and tasks to achieve development goals. The budget for the next three years will be adjusted so as to reduce the impact of external risks and increase the share of non-oil and gas revenues. Putin noted that the budget will receive a moderate deficit, despite the fact that the national debt is less than 20% of GDP. This is one of the lowest rates in the world.

State business: the government has allocated 14 billion to compensate for the increase in salaries of state employees

33 regions will receive funds.

• The President said that monetary policy makes it possible to achieve a slowdown in price dynamics, and its important achievement has been to reduce inflation. At the moment, it has dropped to 7% in annual terms, and by the end of December it will be below 6%, that is, below the forecasts of the government and the Central Bank.

• According to Putin, the economy is currently experiencing a slowdown in growth, and GDP growth will range from 0.5% to 1% by the end of the year. However, this was an expected result due to the actions of the Bank of Russia and the government's decisions to ensure a soft landing of the economy.

Investment

• Putin said that over the past three years, investments in the economy have grown at a faster pace. In 2022, the growth was 6.7%, in 2023 - 9.8%, in 2024 — 7.4%. By the end of 2025, the dynamics will remain positive. Recently, the financial sector has reconfigured its work and replaced unreliable external sources of financing with internal ones.

• The Russian banking sector is now operating confidently and stably, Putin noted. If in 2022 he had almost zero profit, then every year it exceeded 3 trillion rubles. Putin called for banks to increase their contribution to the development of the economy and strengthen the real sector through loans.

• The President proposed to create a single investment support ecosystem to attract investment, so that companies could receive the necessary support from the regions throughout the production cycle. Putin instructed the VEB Corporation and the Ministry of Economic Development to create such an ecosystem.

• Putin drew attention to the development of the stock market as a source of investment. Currently, 37 million individuals are registered on the Moscow Stock Exchange, which is almost half of the country's economic population. The total value of their assets is 11 trillion rubles. The stock market has room for growth and new placements, so additional efforts are needed to grow capitalization.

• Putin instructed the government to develop a program for the initial and secondary placement of shares of companies with state participation and to identify industry plans for the listing of large issuers on the stock exchange. He also suggested linking the shareholder value of companies with the support measures they can rely on from the state.

The situation in Donbas

• After his speech at the plenary session, Putin separately answered questions from journalists and commented on the situation in Donbas. He noted that Krasnoarmeysk, which was taken by the Russian army, is a large infrastructure facility connected to a network of communications with the region, and a good springboard for solving the tasks of a special operation. The president invited foreign journalists to make sure who controls the city now.

• Putin noted that the settlement in Ukraine is hindered by the position of Europe, which does not agree with the actions of the US administration to achieve peace. At the same time, Europe itself refused to hold peace talks. The President noted that if Europe intends to go to war with Russia, it will be ready for this.

• Discussing the recent attacks on Russian vessels in the Black Sea, Putin said that Russia would consider cutting off Ukraine from access to the sea as a retaliatory measure. He called attacks on ships piracy and threatened countries that help carry out such operations.