Propaganda media decided to tell the Russians about the "cons of lowering prices." Material with the corresponding opinion of the Associate Professor of the Department of Corporate Governance and Innovation of the Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov Mikhail Khachaturian appeared on the website of the Prime agency on the night of July 10. In a few hours, it was reprinted and published with the same type of headlines by Izvestia, Lenta.ru, REN TV, RIA Novosti, LIFE, Moskovsky Komsomolets, and other pro-Kremlin media.
“Most citizens perceive deflation as a blessing, because goods and services are getting cheaper. However, this process has very negative consequences for the economy, primarily from the point of view of a sharp reduction in imports while maintaining the dominance of exports in the balance of payments.
Khachaturian said that with the reduction of imports, “greenhouse conditions” are created for businesses that are deprived of natural competition. According to him, this leads to a drop in product quality and consumption. A situation arises, as in the late USSR, when enterprises produced a large volume of products, but it was not in demand due to quality, the expert says. At the same time, there are queues behind scarce imports.
Speaking about the "cons of lower prices", Khachaturian also mentioned a possible increase in prices for exporters' products and a decrease in demand for them.
“The lack of demand slows down investments in the development of the production capabilities of domestic exporters, which subsequently leads to a reduction in their share in the world market. Together, all these factors lead, according to the expert, to the stagnation of the economy, and ultimately to a crisis, ”summed up Prime.
Russia's war against Ukraine has led to a giant jump in world food prices. In total, they can grow by 20%, according to the forecast of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.