Full text of Vladimir Putin’s speech at SPIEF on June 17, 2022:
Thank you very much! Dear Kassym-Jomart Kemelevich! Dear friends, colleagues!
I greet the participants and guests of the XXV St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
It takes place at a difficult time for the entire world community, when the economy, markets and the very principles of the global economic system are under attack. Many commercial, productive and logistical ties that were previously interrupted by the pandemic are now undergoing new tests.
Furthermore, key business concepts such as business reputation, sanctity of property, and trust in world currencies have been fundamentally undermined, sadly undermined, by our partners in the West, and this was done intentionally, out of ambition, in the name of preserving outdated geopolitical illusions.
Today ours – when I say “ours”, I mean the Russian leadership – has its own vision of the situation in which the world economy finds itself. I will dwell in detail on how Russia is acting in these conditions and how it is planning its development in a dynamically changing environment.
A year and a half ago, speaking at the Davos Forum, I once again emphasized that the era of the unipolar world order is over, I want to start with this, there is no escape, it is over despite all attempts to preserve it, preserve it for any medium. Changes are a natural course of history, since the diversity of civilizations on the planet, the richness of cultures is difficult to combine with political, economic and other patterns, patterns that do not work here, patterns that are rudely, with no alternative, taxes from a center. .
The defect lies in the very idea, according to which there is one, albeit a strong power with a limited circle of approximate or, as they say, states admitted to it, and all the rules of turnover and international relations, when becomes necessary – they are interpreted exclusively in the interests of this power, as they say, they work in one direction, the game goes in one direction. A world based on such “dogmas” is definitely unsustainable.
The United States, having declared victory in the Cold War, declared themselves the messengers of the Lord on Earth, who have no obligations, but only interests, and these interests are declared sacred. They do not seem to realize that new powerful centers have formed on the planet in recent decades and are becoming louder and louder. Each of them develops its own political systems and public institutions, implements its own models of economic growth and, of course, has the right to protect them, to guarantee national sovereignty.
We are talking about objective processes, about truly revolutionary tectonic changes in geopolitics, the global economy, in the technological sphere, in the entire system of international relations, where the role of dynamic and promising states and regions is increasing significantly, whose interests can no longer be ignored.
I repeat: these changes are fundamental, pivotal and inexorable. And it is a mistake to believe that the time of turbulent changes can, as they say, sit back, wait, that supposedly everything will return to normal, everything will return to the way it was before. I will not do it.
However, it seems that the ruling elites of some Western states are in this kind of illusion. They do not want to notice obvious things, but stubbornly cling to the shadows of the past. For example, Western dominance in global politics and economics is believed to be an eternal and immutable value. Nothing is eternal.
Furthermore, our colleagues do not simply deny reality. They are trying to counter the course of history. They think in terms of the last century. They are captives of their own delusions about countries outside the so-called “golden billion”: they consider everything else to be the periphery, their backyard, they still treat them like colonies, and the people who live there consider them second-class people . , because they are considered exceptional. If they are exceptional, everyone else is second class.
Therefore, an irrepressible desire to punish, financially crush those who stand out from the general ranks, they do not want to blindly obey. Furthermore, they rudely and shamelessly impose their own ethics, views on culture and ideas on history and sometimes question the sovereignty and integrity of states, creating a threat to their existence. Suffice it to recall the fate of Yugoslavia and Syria, Libya and Iraq.
If some “rebel” cannot be harassed, pacified, then attempts are made to isolate him or, as they say now, “cancel”. Everything is used, including sports, the Olympic movement, the prohibition of culture, masterpieces of art, for the sole reason that their authors are of “wrong” origin.
This is the nature of the current bout of Russophobia in the West and the senseless sanctions against Russia. Crazy and, I would say, thoughtless. Their number, as well as the speed of stamping, is unprecedented.
The calculation was clear: brazenly, with one blow, to crush the Russian economy, due to the destruction of trade chains, the forced withdrawal of Western companies from the Russian market, the freezing of national assets, to hit industry, finance and the standard. to live from people.
it didn’t work Obviously, it didn’t work, it didn’t take place. Businessmen and Russian authorities worked in a focused and professional manner, citizens showed solidarity and responsibility.
We are going step by step normalizing the economic situation. First, we stabilize the financial markets, the banking system and the commercial network. Then they began to saturate the economy with liquidity and working capital to maintain the stability of companies and businesses, employment and jobs.
The gloomy forecasts about the prospects for the Russian economy, which sounded in early spring, did not come true. At the same time, it is clear why this propaganda campaign was inflated, where all these spells about a dollar for 200 rubles and about the collapse of our economy as a whole came from – all this was and remains an instrument of information warfare , a psychological impact factor in Russian society, in domestic business circles.
By the way, some of our experts succumbed to such external pressure, in their forecasts they also proceeded from the inevitable collapse of the Russian economy and the critical weakening of the national currency – the ruble.
Life has refuted such predictions. However, I would like to emphasize and would like to point out that in order to continue to achieve success, we must assess the situation as honestly and realistically as possible, while being independent in our conclusions and, of course, believing in our own strength, this It’s very important. We are strong people and we can handle any challenge. Like our ancestors, we will solve any problem. This is demonstrated by the entire millenary history of our country.
Literally three months after the massive sanctions package, we suppressed the rise in inflation. After peaking at 17.8 percent, as you know, inflation is now at 16.7 percent and continuing to decline. The economic dynamic is stabilizing, public finances are stable. Then I will make a comparison with other regions. Yes, it’s too much for us, of course. 16.7 percent is high inflation. We must work with this and we will, and I am sure that we will achieve a positive result.
According to the results of the first five months of this year, the federal budget was executed with a surplus of 1.5 trillion rubles, and the consolidated budget with a surplus of 3.3 trillion rubles. At the same time, the federal budget surplus in May alone amounted to almost half a trillion rubles, more than four times the figure for May last year.
Today our task is to create the conditions to increase production, increase supply in the domestic market and, in balance w
ith the growth in supply, restore final demand and bank credit to the economy.
Already said, we have taken special measures to replenish the working capital of companies. Including businesses in almost all industries received the right to defer insurance premiums for the second quarter of this year. At the same time, manufacturing companies have more opportunities: they will be able to take advantage of the delay in the third quarter. In fact, we are talking about an interest-free loan from the state.
In the future, deferred payments of insurance premiums will not have to be paid, as they say, all at once. This can be done in equal installments within 12 months, starting in June of the next year.
Further away. Since May, the rate of preferential mortgages has been reduced. Now it’s nine percent. At the same time, the preferential mortgage program itself has been extended until the end of this year. As I have already said, the purpose of such a measure is to help citizens solve housing problems, support construction and related industries, and we employ millions of workers there.
After a sharp rise in the spring, interest rates in the Russian economy are gradually falling, the Central Bank lowers the key rate. In this sense, I consider it possible to lower the rate of preferential mortgages, now to seven percent.
But what would you like to pay attention to? The duration of the program remains the same, until the end of this year. This means that those of our citizens who want to improve their living conditions with this benefit must use it before the end of this year.
The maximum amounts of loans are also preserved: 12 million rubles for Moscow and St. Petersburg and six million rubles for other subjects of the Federation.
To be continued..
Source: https://eprimefeed.com/latest-news/full-text-of-vladimir-putins-speech-at-spief-june-17-2022-transcript/114448/
