Putin says Russia overcoming economic crisis caused by virus

MOSCOW: Russia's economy is recovering from a severe crisis caused by the coronavirus, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

The pandemic hit Russia shortly after oil prices and its currency the ruble slumped as a result of talks collapsing between Moscow and the OPEC cartel.

Putin at a video conference on budgetary planning said that "the depth of the crisis turned out to be very serious and its negative consequences were palpable for citizens."

Russia imposed anti-virus measures including border closures and strict lockdowns that prevented many from working during April and part of May.

The central bank has predicted the country's GDP for 2020 will shrink by four to six percent.

Putin said that government measures to support the economy were "unprecedented" and "today we can say these measures gave a result, allowed us to significantly offset the severity of the crisis."

"Now as we emerge from the lockdown regime, Russia's economic activity is gradually recovering," the president said.

Figures on consumer demand and energy consumption have bounced back to close to pre-crisis levels but "there are still difficulties on the job market," Putin said.

He said there are currently around three million people officially registered as unemployed.

The figure for May given by the state statistics agency was 2.1 million, while it said the total figure of those of working age not employed was 4.5 million, or 6.1 percent of the population, up from 5. 8 percent in April.

Putin said that the growth in registered unemployed was partly due to a hike in benefits during the pandemic.

He said that a "complete recovery on the job market must be completed in 2021."

Russia has low unemployment figures compared to many other countries, partly due to its labour legislation. Many work in low-paying jobs.

Putin said last month that Russia will increase taxes on high earners from next year as part of measures to tackle the economic fallout of the pandemic.