Russia's economic growth claims are inflation manipulation, says analyst

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

"The current state of Russia's economy is simple manipulation. If you can understate inflation figures, you'll see growth, but it's driven by price increases. There's rampant inflation that you can't stop, so the decision is made to raise the central bank's key rate. As a result, you manipulate this figure and claim growth," commented the head of the analytical direction at the NGO ANTS.

According to him, there are ways to assess real inflation, such as consumption tax revenue, specifically VAT. This tax increases in two cases: when the economy grows, increasing budget revenue from VAT, or when inflation occurs, which also raises VAT - this is known as the inflation tax.

"It should be noted that defense industry enterprises do not pay VAT, as there is no consumption; the funds are allocated for weapon production for the front. As a result, there is a decline in the civilian economy across virtually all sectors. Therefore, there is no economic growth in Russia, only a decline. But the Russians report a 4.1% GDP growth, and the only explanation for this is inflation manipulation. It's like in the USSR, when a piglet was born, by the time the data reached the center, there were already 20 piglets. This is what the Russian ministries of economy and finance are doing now - to show inflated, fictitious growth," concluded Illia Neskhodovskyi.

• The head of Russia's Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, stated on November 19 that nearly all available resources in the Russian economy have already been utilized.