According to official figures by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the average cost of the minimum monthly food basket at the end of April 2017 was 3872 ruble (USD $69). Compared to the previous month, the value in rubles increased by 2,7% (to the beginning of the year by 5,0%), GKS.ru reported. Furthermore, statisticians revealed how Russians spend their wages.
2017 statistics: Consumer spending in Russia decreased by 9% in the last year
Analytics of the research holding Romir investigated spending habits of Russians. They found that during the first quarter of 2017 (January—March) people spent in shops 4,9% less as compared to the same period of 2016. Adjusting for inflation, it is about 9% drop in consumer spending.
“Thus, real, or “cleared” from the inflation, expenses of our countrymen happened to be the lowest in the last five years. Russians returned to the regime of saving money. It is possible to save by cutting the frequency of visits to shops. The consumer basket has changed—57% of the amount is spent on food. Clothing, appliances are purchased less frequently,” Romir experts conclude.
- 57% of money is spent on food and non-edible items (clothing, cleaning products etc.)
- 16%—home utility bills
- 2%—online shopping on foreign websites
- 12%—loan repayments
- 8%—savings
- 5%—invested in purchasing hard currency (USD, Euro) to create a cushion against of potential exchange fluctuation
In 2016 exchange rate of Russian Ruble to US Dollar achieved rates of 80 RUB per 1 USD, with some specialists predicting levels of 100 ruble per dollar at the time. Today locals pay only 57 ruble per American dollar. But many Russian citizens believe another hike may not be too far away, and try to protect themselves from the loss of value of their savings.
Read also:
- What can you buy for 1 US dollar in Russia?
- How much people really earn in Russia
- Salaries vs. wages in Russia, Ukraine: What’s the difference?
- Statistics: Average salaries in Russia 1991-2016
These numbers can be applied with minimal error to any post-soviet country, except may be Baltic States. Salaries are incredibly low and more than half is spent for food. Personally, in this situation I blame governments for stealing most of income from natural resources, especially in fossil-rich countries like Russia and Kazakhstan.
It’s actually pretty sad, that russians spend so much of their money only on food. That’s not how people in XXI century should live and it’s horrible, that Russia’s government don’t understand that. You can’t treat your people like that.
I don’t feel that all the Russian people are so much concerned with US dollar rising up. I heard people in Russia usually save money the way they earn it, so whether US currency is going up or down it causes little concern. Actually it is even a good thing when it is up so maybe it is the right time to exchange your saved bucks. Though prices tend to rise while US dollar is getting more value and this is the trouble.
I believe that some figures are unrealistic here. According to statistics for 2017, people really began to spend less money. The Government of the Russian Federation is doing everything to make only a profit. They introduced new laws, for example, increased the retirement age. This is done only for the sake of money. Note that this situation began a long time ago. Prices for taxes and products began to rise, but wages remained the same. For example, a year ago, peaches stood at 40 rubles, and the people received an average of 20,000 rubles, now peaches cost 140 rubles, and… Read more »
I think that spending all money you have on food, clothes or something like that can happen only in some situations. First of all, when you have as small salary that you can buy only necessary products for life or you have too mush money that spend it unwisely buying needless stuffs for self-satisfaction.
I think it is common not only for Russia. Citizens of many countries spend most part of their wages on food, clothes – essential goods. I live in Russia and if I was asked the same question I would answer the same. Prices are rising but wages are small.
To be honest, it’s pretty dificult to accept the reality we live in. Nobody wants to agree with the fact that the main part of his salary is spent on food and bills. But, in my opinion, we should better take this statistic into account because it would help us to assess our circumstances and change our buying behaviour so we could spend our money wisely.