Vladimir Putin, in his keynote speech at SPIEF, announced victory over the "crazy sanctions" that failed to "crush" the Russian economy. And he gave several arguments - the Russian budget, despite the pressure, is in surplus, price growth has been stopped, and the ruble has strengthened. But each of these arguments can be argued, writes The Bell economic correspondent Yulia Starostina.

Sberbank does not plan to introduce negative rates on foreign currency accounts of individuals until at least 2023, and does not expect negative rates on deposits. For legal entities, there will be negative rates on foreign currency accounts, follows from the words of Sberbank President German Gref at SPIEF: “If we talk about foreign exchange liabilities, then we need to divide into two parts. First, legal entities. We are introducing and will continue to introduce negative rates ...

According to Bloomberg , the European Commission today recommends the status of EU candidates to two countries: Ukraine and Moldova. The agency writes that the recommendation will be accompanied by a set of requirements for candidates in the areas of the rule of law, justice and the fight against corruption. As for Georgia, which also applied for EU membership, the European Commission will announce the conditions under which it will be able to become a candidate.

The penultimate day of SPIEF began with a traditional Sber breakfast hosted by German Gref on the topic “The Russian Economy: How to Build a Bridge to the Future”. Gref stated that he did not remember the situation when "nobody needs the currency in Russia, banks introduce negative commissions." Nevertheless, most of the economy is under sanctions, and instead of a "bridge" in Russia, the "pipe to the East" scenario is already being implemented.

The future of the domestic auto industry is the converted Lada Vesta platform, follows from the statements of officials. It is considered obsolete and hardly suitable for electric vehicles. The fact that AvtoVAZ will develop a new platform based on Vesta in three to four years, TASS was told by the new head of the automobile plant, Maxim Sokolov. The plans include the localization of electronics, automatic transmission, engine and anti-lock braking system (ABS).