00:00President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia is deliberately slowing its economic growth in order to suppress inflation
00:07and that the world's second largest oil exporter was far away from a recession.
00:12A graph published in Russian Central Bank's report earlier in September
00:15showed two consecutive quarters of gross domestic product GDP decline in quarter-on-quarter terms
00:21aligning with the common definition of technical recession.
00:24Putin downplayed concerns about a downturn, saying the Russian economy remains far away from a recession.
00:33The United States, Europe and allies have imposed more than 25,000 different sanctions on Russia
00:38over the 2022 war in Ukraine and the 2014 annexation of Crimea in a bid to sink Russia's economy
00:45and undermine support for Putin.
00:48Russia's war economy grew at 4.1 percent in 2023 and 4.3 percent in 2024,
00:54far faster than G7 countries, but it is slowing sharply under the weight of high interest rates.
01:00Putin also said on Thursday that introducing a tax on luxury could be a reasonable step,
01:05but cautioned against going too far with the idea.
01:09Sources told Reuters the Russian government is weighing a possible increase in value-added tax,
01:13or VAT, to keep the budget deficit in check and maintain reserves.
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