St. Petersburg has been better off, among other Russia’s regions, recovering from the economic slump, it was reported by the city governor Valentina Matvienko during the meeting of the Government of St. Petersburg s, the press service of the Government of the city says.
According to Eugene Yelin, the chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade of the City Administration, despite the crisis in 2009 St. Petersburg has managed not only maintain but also increase the gross regional product by 3.5%, - up to 1 billion 467 million rubles. While the total GRP in Russia decreased by 7.4%. With this important indicator the city holds one of the leading positions among all regions of Russia.
Last year for the first time in 15 years it was managed to reverse the trend of population decline. The number of births increased in St. Petersburg in 2009 by 9%, while death rate declined by 3%. Thus, the natural loss in population has decreased by 33%, the population of St. Petersburg today is 4 million 600 thousand people.
Valentina Matvienko, the Governor of St.-Petersburg, said that outcomes, in general, are quite satisfactory. "Those anti-crisis measures which were taken at the federal level, by the Government of St. Petersburg proved to be effective. Petersburg has managed to experienced a crisis year as one of the best regions", - said the Governor.
The official unemployment rate, registered in St. Petersburg, is 1.1%, which is 2.5 times lower compared to other regions of Russia. Average salary for the year grew by 7.9% to 24.5 thousand rubles. The consumer price index for goods and services in 2009 was lower than the inflation rate – 108.5% by December 2008.
Due to the significant increase in the public construction – 1.7 times - the city managed to maintain high rates of housing construction in crisis period. It made implementation of housing programs possible, but also provided support to construction companies, the Governor noted.
Last year volume of foreign investment remained at a high level and exceeded $ 5 billion.
Valentina Matvienko stressed that the slump in economy weakened, but is not over. "We need not only to continue to carry out stabilization measures, but also boost the development of the city. We must focus on production upgrading, updating of fixed assets, increase of labor productivity," - said the Governor.