Today, on the 23rd of December, Russian President Vladimir Putin answered questions of almost 50 reporters at the 12th press conference held annually to sum up the results of the year. Today, the event lasted about four hours and was attended by approximately 1500 journalists from Russian regions and abroad.
Speaking about Russia’s macroeconomic indicators, the President highlighted a notable improvement in this area. According to Vladimir Putin, in 2016, inflation reached its record low 5.5 percent. The budget deficit last year was 2.6 percent, while this year it will be 3.7 percent, what, in his opinion, is “an absolutely acceptable figure”.
Increase in Russian Central Bank’s gold and foreign currency reserves was not significant and amounted to $385 billion, Vladimir Putin noted. Apart from that, the head of the state pointed out that the industry was reviving and capital outflows decline.
As for agricultural sector, Putin said that 216 billion rubles are planned to be spent on its development. “We will have over 119 million tons of crops. There was nothing of that kind in the modern history of Russia,” – the President added. He drew attention to the fact that the agricultural machinery sector was showing very good growth rates.
Addressing the issue of Russian defense, Vladimir Putin said that the country was stronger than any other country capable to attack it. Russia is building new submarines and aircrafts. However, he reminded that the USA had more weapons, what should not be argued.
Regarding the cyber attacks on the United States, Russian President said that he was unaware of who was behind and noted that the losing side, meaning the U.S. Democratic Party, always searches for excuses to justify its defeat.
Vladimir Putin also called on to pay more attention on the content of the documents leaked as a result of the cyber attacks. He stressed that hackers showed people the truth.
“Hackers have shown that the public opinion was manipulated on the part of the Democratic Party,” – stressed Russian President. At the same time, he expressed hope that under the Republic party, the United States and Russia could build a strong relationship on the basis of mutual sympathy.
