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Stability or stagnation? How does economic stability differ 

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from stagnation?

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This is very simple. Economic stability is the foundation 

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for development. Overall, stability is always the foundation 

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for development, while stagnation is basically backpedaling 

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without any development. That is the main difference.

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Look, during the first decade of your tenure everything was booming.

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Yes.

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Then, around 2008, we set off on bolstering our health 

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by jogging in place.

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Well, firstly, it is very healthy.

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I will get to that – it is important.

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Secondly, the question is what benchmark we started from 

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in 1999 and 2000. It was minimal, in fact,

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a pittance. Because then, if we begin with the key issue here,

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42 million people lived below the poverty line.

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A third of the country’s population.

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Nowadays this number is still high at 13.5 million.

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But this is not a third, not 42 million.

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Nevertheless, it is still a lot. And we must combat this.

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Back then, the gold and forex reserves stood at $12.

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5 billion, and the national debt came to 145 billion.

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There was no end in sight; it was unclear how to sort it out.

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Since then and until now – as I say this,

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people may start having doubts, but this is a fact –

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real wages have grown by 4.2 per cent.

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Pensions have almost tripled (2.9 times)

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. Real incomes have jumped 2.4 times.

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Do you mean since 2000?

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Yes, since 2000.Those are definitely real things.

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Now, this does not mean that everything is fine today. Not at all.

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On the contrary. Moreover, people do not make comparisons with what it 

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was like before, when it was bad,

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but rather with how good it is supposed to be in the future.

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When they see that their desires are not met,

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they feel let down. Frankly speaking, I agree with this perspective.

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Especially since you made a promise.

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In 2008, we heard that by 2020 the average wage would be around $2,

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700. A family of three would have a 100-square-meter flat…

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Well, this is not quite correct. Those were preliminary plans.

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Yes, plans. The so-called 2020 Concept.

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We planned to double our GDP by 2008 and based on this we compiled our 

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social plans accordingly.

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In 2008, we had practically reached our goals.

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Then, the global financial crisis struck, not by any fault of ours,

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it came from beyond our borders.

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As a result, a far more urgent task appeared that we had to tackle.

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I want to remind everybody that here it was essential to prevent 

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the economy from collapsing and the public’s savings from 

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being wiped out. This was in 2008.

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I became Prime Minister then and had to publicly announce –

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this was a huge risk, frankly speaking – I announced that…

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The risk was you being Prime Minister?

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No, it was what I said. What I said was this.

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I stated that I would prevent a repeat of the 1998 crisis,

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when all of the public’s savings had been wiped out.

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And we prevented that.

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But, indeed, it had a negative impact on our development.

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Honestly, we were not to blame for it.

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That global financial meltdown and the economic crisis that 

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followed came from the outside.

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I see. But incomes, real incomes have been on the decline 

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in recent years.

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True. We are concerned about this;

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I am deeply concerned that this sort of stagnation has hit real 

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incomes. There is an explanation.

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First and foremost, it is connected with a drastic drop in energy 

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prices. Everything kept growing as long as oil was at $100 per barrel 

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or higher. Now it is $60.

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Do you see the difference? It has practically halved.

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This explains why we launched these National Projects with the aim 

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of changing the economy's structure and promoting 

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self-sustaining development.

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But people cannot afford to wait for years,

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I understand this perfectly.

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I certainly understand that this is one of today’s key social issues.

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We need to do something about this.

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The government is obliged to do something to give it 

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a boost. There are many ways.

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Does anyone bear personal responsibility for the falling revenues 

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and the rise in poverty? The latest figures show that 

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the number has been on the rebound.

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Well, there were 13.4 million, now there are 13.5 million.

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The difference is not very big,

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but it does exist. These are real people.

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What can we say about personal responsibility at a time when world oil 

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prices have slumped? What can we say about personal responsibility, if…?

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But we wanted to wean ourselves off oil dependency.

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We wanted to do that, and we are gradually doing it,

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by the way. We are really moving away from it,

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because the share of non-oil and gas revenue is growing.

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But this requires time, and it cannot be done at the drop of a hat.

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There has been a lot of talk about inflation;

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it is reducing, but people are more concerned about what 

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they see in their refrigerators.

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True.

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Macroeconomic figures may look good, but…

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Try to see my point. Low inflation means that prices go up 

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very slowly or do not grow at all.

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But they do go up.

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But slowly. Since the 2000s that you started from…

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You did.

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Well, the 20 questions, that is where you started.

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Well, yes.

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We had an inflation rate of 20.5 percent,

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I believe. And in 1999, when I became Prime Minister,

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it was 36 percent, or 35 percent,

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I believe. And in 1992, inflation was 2,

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600 percent. Now it is hovering around 3.4 to 3.5 percent.

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And that covers food prices.

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And people feel the bite of rising inflation since prices go up,

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taking a toll on people's wallets.

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It is another thing that along with targeting inflation,

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the public’s disposable incomes need to be raised. This is obvious.

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It is quite obvious. In the context of our economic structure,

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it is not that simple.

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But the Government is certainly obliged to make additional efforts.

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This is precisely what we are discussing.