Despite
the threat of a global economic crisis, Russian retail is still going
strong. Russian Deputy Minister for Industry and Energy Andrey
Dementyev announced nothing but excellent figures today.
Sales figures up +7.8% as wages rise almost 4%
Russian
retail sales went up 7.8% last month, compared to August 2010: the
best result in recent history – still doing better than the already
excellent +5.7% of July 2011 compared to July 2010. Moreover,
unemployment dropped to 6.1% (the lowest figure in three years) and
average wages rose 3.9% compared to one year ago.
The deputy
minister attributes the sales figures rise to the latter, claiming
that the average Russian now earns clearly more, so he can spend more
as well. The future is looking bright too, he said, as the government
expects a faster economic growth for the July-December period, after
a disappointing first semester.
