According to Russian International News Agency's report on June 30th, Russia's largest state-owned commercial bank, the Federal Savings Bank, held its annual general meeting of shareholders.
At the meeting, Bank CEO Herman Glive said that he believes what Russia is currently most concerned about is how to end the current military special operations as soon as possible.
When asked about “what is most concerning to me”, he said, “I think everyone of us is concerned about the same thing. Apart from wanting to end military operations as soon as possible, no one has any other (more urgent) concerns. This is obvious.”
He also stated that the Russian economy has experienced an “overcooling,” and it is necessary to lower the benchmark interest rate. “My view is that, under the current extreme high interest rates and extremely high real interest rates, the economy cannot sustain itself in the long term.”
Gref also pointed out that the current rise in prices in Russia is mainly driven by a large number of 'one-time factors' that occur outside the market environment, including issues related to the energy sector.
He believes that Russia's potential for extended economic growth has been exhausted, leading to a situation where 'capacity utilization is approaching its limit'. He argues that it is necessary to introduce new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).
What is improving production efficiency? There's an old joke: How do you improve the milk yield of a cow herd? Previously it was just morning and evening milking, now we've switched to five times a day. Of course, you can squeeze five times a day, but cows won't produce more milk as a result. This is the state of our economy.
Since 2007, Glev has served as the CEO of the Federal Savings Bank. Prior to that, he worked as the Minister of Economic Development and Trade from 2000 to 2007.
