Support measures helped prevent poverty increase in Russia amid COVID-19 - World Bank
Moscow/Sputnik: The government's support measures helped Russia avoid a sudden increase in poverty amid the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank's Country Director for Russia Renaud Seligmann told Sputnik.
"One thing that has to be said [about the most vulnerable and the poorest] is that had it not been for the measures that the government has taken since January 2020 and then even more in March, April, May, and June ... poverty would have risen in Russia. It would have gone from 12.3 percent of the population to something like 14.8 percent. It would have risen significantly," Seligmann said.
If all measures announced by the Russian government are carried out, the poverty will not increase and there will be a return to the 2019 level, Seligmann said.
The macroeconomic and fiscal policy of the last few years is the reason Russia was in better shape than some other countries in the face of the pandemic, the World Bank regional chief said.
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