Wages of Putin and Medvedev were decreased by 10%

The wages of Putin and Medvedev, as well as several government officials were decreased by 10% after a decree from the Russian President which decreases the cash remuneration from 1st March to 31st December 2015. The measure applies to monthly monetary compensation, and the quarterly cash incentives, reported the press service of the Kremlin. Press Secretary of the Russian head of state said that in the event of a further deterioration of economic conditions wage cuts can be extended.

“This decision is only temporary, it is caused by the current economic situation. If the conditions do not change significantly, the period will be extended. If there is a change for the better, then there will be another reason (measure) to expand”, said the Press Secretary of the Russian head Peskov.

Earlier MPs in the upper house of the Russian Duma also demanded lower wages by 10%, according to the head of the Commission on the organization of parliamentary business Vadim Tulpanov. “It’s about reducing the salaries of members of our Association with 10% based on the fact that we have a very low total cost of the Russian Federation”, said Tulpanov.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the State Duma also said it would ask President Putin to reduce the salaries of MPs in connection with the adjustment of the federal budget for 2015. Despite the overall problems of Russia in 2014, the economy expanded by 0.6%, showed the latest data of the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). Earlier, the Ministry of Economic Development said it expects GDP growth in 2014 to be in the range 0.5-0.6%.

In 2013 the Russian economy added 1.3%, while in 2012 GDP growth was 3.4%, and in 2011 – 4.3%. In early January, the World Bank sharply lowered its forecast for the Russian economy in 2015. According to expectations the country’s GDP will fall by 0.7% for the period.