As food prices surge, Russians stop buying fruit, ignore expiration dates, and brace for more hikes — Meduza
meduza.io
One of the biggest concerns for Russians at the start of this year is the rapid rise in the cost of basic necessities. Across the country, prices for vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy products, pet food, and other everyday goods have climbed sharply. Meduza asked its Russian readers from different regions how higher prices are reshaping their daily lives — and what they’re bracing for next. We’ve translated some of the most notable responses into English.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/50183407

One of the biggest concerns for Russians at the start of this year is the rapid rise in the cost of basic necessities. Across the country, prices for vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy products, pet food, and other everyday goods have climbed sharply.

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  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    9 hours ago

    No there are not, most economists when invited to major news channels claim that we shouldn’t expect the Russian economy to crack anytime soon. Mostly based on official numbers.
    But when evaluating the Russian economy from news we get from other sources, the picture is quite different.
    The official inflation in Russia is stated at 7-8%, but some independent sources estimate it at about 15%.
    We know Russia has financial problems, and companies are prevented from going bankrupt, banks are simply not allowed to declare the companies bankrupt! And these companies often can’t pay their workers. But how widespread is this problem really?
    Russia is doing many nontraditional things to keep the economy going. And it seems like the “experts” lack the necessary knowledge and understanding about what is going on to give us a reasonable picture.

    I predicted already a year ago that at this point in time, Russia would begin to have very serious problems, because of failing infrastructure and failing harvest and failing distribution and also failing economy of course. And the Winter could be the final straw that break the camels back. These anecdotes could be examples of what I was expecting.
    The difference lies in how widespread these problems are, and whether they are also bad for the middle class and not only for instance pensioners, that for a long time now have been unable to manage without help from friends and family.

    I follow several news sources that specialize in news from Russia (and Ukraine), And to say there are plenty good reports is very strange.
    We know some things, like Russia has exhausted their national reserve fund, that they make only a fourth the profits on oil exports compared to 5 years ago, and the banks are very strained.
    But the degree to which the bills aren’t paid is camouflaged in so many ways it is very hard to get a good picture, all we know is that it is a problem.