Putin proposed revising consumer basket composition: more meat, fish, vegetables

UFA, 23 January 2020. /Bashinform News Agency/ translated by Tatiana Aksyutina/.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his visit to the Lipetsk Region, proposed updating the composition of the consumer basket to include more meat, fish, and vegetables by reducing the carbohydrate part. “If you look at this basket, according to experts, its structure should be improved. Bakery products occupy a large part there, with not enough vegetables and fruit. And fish and meat do not take the proper share in this basket. Therefore, it is certainly subject to review,” the federal media quoted the president as saying.

The initiative to update the composition of the consumer basket is not new, The Bell recalls. The Ministry of Labor was going to revise it at the beginning of 2019 in the direction of increasing the share of dairy products and vegetables.

The current annual composition of the minimum basket, which, in theory, should ensure the life and health of a person, has not changed since 2012. It includes 290 kg of dairy products, 126.5 kg - of bread (including cereals, flour, and legumes), 100 kg of potatoes, 115 kg of vegetables, 60 kg of fruit, 58.6 kg of meat, 18.5 kg of fish.

The subsistence minimum, according to which the subsistence wage is calculated, depends on the composition of the consumer basket. From January 1, 2020, the subsistence wage is 12 130 rubles per month.

The package of presidential amendments to the Constitution, which are put to the all-Russian vote, contains a provision on the establishment of subsistence wage not lower than the cost of living of the able-bodied population in Russia as a whole.

Russians are offered to vote for “social” amendments to the Constitution, including guarantees for indexing pensions and social payments, in a single package with “political” ones.