OREANDA-NEWS The level of poverty in Russia remains high, despite the expectation of an increase in real incomes. At the same time, in 2018, for the first time in four years, the population's income, including pensioners, is expected to grow. This was announced by the head of the accounts chamber Alexei Kudrin, speaking in the state Duma with the report on the budget for 2017.

"The poverty rate remains high, 19.3 million people, that is, 13.2% have an income below the subsistence minimum," he said.

Kudrin added that in 2017 there was a "positive turn" in the Russian economy, which led to an increase in growth rates. According to him, in the first eight months of this year, real incomes increased by 2.6%, while in the last four years they decreased by 11%.

The head of the Accounts Chamber noted that the growth of pensions in 2017 amounted to 3.6%, but in the last two years the income of pensioners decreased by 3.7%. This year they also recorded their growth.

"I hope that this year we will get the first increase in real incomes of the population, for the first eight months they increased by 2.6%. The real growth of pensions last year, however, was already positive, amounting to 3.6% after a two-year break, during which pensioners ' real incomes, unfortunately, fell by 7.1%. In the first seven months of this year, we also see an increase in real incomes of pensioners, this is encouraging," Kudrin said.

On May 7, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on national goals and strategic objectives for the development of the Russian Federation until 2024. In particular, the head of state instructed to reduce poverty by half. In late May, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that reducing poverty is the most difficult task of the decree. She noted that its implementation depends on the pace of development of the Russian economy.

Earlier it became known that poverty in Russia went down: in the first half of 2018, the proportion of poor citizens decreased to 20 million people. During the year, this figure decreased by 1.1 million people, as announced Deputy Prime Minister for social Affairs Tatyana Golikova.