The middle class. Where have we lost it? We were told it would account
for more than a half of the population.
Listen, do you know what the middle class is? If you think that
the term “middle class” is about the way people live in France,
Germany or the United States, this is not so.
The middle class is different in different countries.
There is a relevant methodology of the World Bank.
The middle class is estimated using the number of households,
of people whose incomes are 50 per cent above the minimum wage.
This year’s minimum wage is, if I remember correctly, 11,280 rubles,
while the average wage is far higher.
There are a lot of such people, well above 70 per cent.
Then our middle class should rather be called ‘middling’.
You know, we have to proceed from the realities.
Within one's means.
Not within one's means but using the methodology of the World Bank.
”Within one's means“ is a very unclear formula.
The World Bank's methodology, however,
suggests that each country has its own middle class. So do we.
Our task is just to make this middle class stronger.
I wish it were like in France or Germany…
Boost incomes…
I would not like it to be like in France.
Don't you?
Just look at what is happening there.
Is there anything good about it? Protests there continue nonstop, right?
Whole branches of the economy are stalled.
The unrest left 11 people dead, many were injured,
lost their eyes to rubber bullets.
What is so good about this? Is this what you wish? I do not think so.
The people in France went to the streets.
Yes.
Macron made a move, then backtracked.
Is this a good thing?
I do not know. For the French people it probably is.
I do not think so. Firstly, fundamentally nothing has changed.
In the context of the reform, the most critical issue, as I see it,
was the one related to early retirement and basically equal
treatment for all.
From the economic standpoint, this is actually reasonable.
Pragmatically, President Macron, on the whole,
is doing the right thing.
We, pragmatically speaking, have done the wrong thing because we have
left in place practically everything –
retained almost all the privileges,
all privileged categories.
We still have early retirement,
while in France this is the principal reason for discontent –
that early retirement plans are being canceled.
Early retirement has remained for the military
and for the law enforcement agencies.
Where?
Here, in Russia.
Not only for them. It has been preserved for coalminers, for instance,
and for other categories. It has remained for teachers.
We have many groups entitled to preferences.
Moreover, for mothers of large families the retirement age is 50.
We need to fulfil a very important task –
to raise people's real incomes.
We should think about the best use of the available
resources, which are big enough.
Our National Welfare Fund has exceeded 7 per cent of the GDP –
to be more precise, it is 7.3 per cent.
Next summer, in July, as far as I remember,
funds are expected to be credited to our accounts and we are getting
to the point when we will begin to spend the NWF more actively –
we agreed upon it before, we made a decision to do it when this reserve
fund, and we have only one reserve fund left, the NWF,
exceeded 7 per cent. The question is on what we should spend the money:
on investment, on support for certain groups of the population, etc.
This is what our discussion is revolving around today.