Consumer spending and purchasing power of the Russian population under sanctions: level, structure, crisis manifestations

The article is devoted to the monetary conditions for the formation of consumer spending of the population and its purchasing power for spending in the period 2014-2023. The information base was formed by macroeconomic data of state statistics, customs statistics, monitoring studies in the field of income and living standards of the population, conducted at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article highlights 4 areas of research - consumer spending as a component of the structure of monetary spending of the population; consumer spending in the context of retail turnover and import of consumer goods; average structural model of consumption; purchasing power of the population for consumption spending. In all areas of the study, a deterioration in the situation was revealed in the crisis years of 2015, 2020, 2022. It is shown that during these years the population developed a crisis strategy of saving on consumption. The volumes of retail turnover during the years of crisis fell against the background of a reduction in the flow of commodity imports, and losses from sales in the conditions of their deep decline were compensated by an accelerated growth in consumer prices, which had negative consequences for saving on consumption expenses. It is shown that in the commodity structure of imports the share of food products and agricultural raw materials (except textiles) decreased, and the share of textiles, textile products and footwear, on the contrary, increased. It was found that the average statistical structural model of consumption in the period under review did not undergo radical changes, but in crisis conditions it worsened due to changes in consumer behavior of the population, as evidenced by the growth in the share of food expenses. It was determined that the purchasing power of the population for consumer expenses, identifying the standard of living by consumption and measured using the consumer basket of the subsistence minimum, is differentiated by sectors of the consumer market (food and non-food products, services). It was the lowest in the food sector. In crisis conditions, the level of the indicator was subject to a decrease in all sectors of the consumer market.