Consume! Experts advise spending more to mitigate the crisis

An operational assessment of consumer spending in Russia is published by Sberbank analysts. So in March 2022, they grew by 20% in nominal terms for goods and services. Growth in spending on food and non-food items was the same at 22%, while spending on services grew by 16.4%. Moreover, the overall growth exceeded the annual inflation, which amounted to 16.4%, and, therefore, there is a monthly positive trend in real terms.

According to financial analyst Pavel Spydel, this process was influenced by the excitement of the first two weeks of March. However, since mid-March, consumer activity has been fading, which became especially noticeable in April.

“Thus, in terms of the turnover of organizations and consumer spending, we can say that March turned out to be extremely successful, given the shock circumstances. The collapse did not happen. But apparently, the delayed effect is transferred to April and May, but rather slowly. And this is good, so there will be an opportunity for adaptation”, - the expert believes.

However, the collapse can be avoided, experts commenting on this situation are sure:

“I would like to encourage everyone to consume. Yes, it may sound ugly, but now it is necessary for the economy. I myself notice this tendency to save money, to tighten up money, but you can’t stop the circulation of money, you need to support and accelerate it. Everyone wants to put it off for a rainy day, but this was the reason for the crisis in the 1930s in the USA - people squeezed money. Therefore, go to restaurants, cafes, cinemas (although not much for anything), travel about Russia and buy things, this is necessary in the current situation..."

Other commentators are confident that the industrial crisis caused by Western sanctions will soon be overcome:

“Now the main thing is to restart industrial production. There are problems. We received components from Italy, and now the court. A trade blockade is waiting for us all over. We have already found analogues in China, well, it takes time to adapt, change the design documentation and purchases. Terms - 4-5 months. Very realistic…”