Economist Korenev believes that Russians will start to get rich with the active development of the economy 
not defense, not power structures, but the economy. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he proposed a plan to increase labor productivity and create enterprises with high added value.
The preliminary surplus of the Russian budget in January-October exceeded 2.1 trillion rubles – this was previously reported by the RF Ministry of Finance. According to Korenev, it was possible to reach such a record value against the background of the global crisis due to the rise in the cost of resources exported by the country.
Defense against the economy
“About half of our exports are energy resources, which have grown at a record price. Also for some metals – aluminum, copper and others – prices have almost doubled, fertilizers and timber have risen in price. So the growth is going on in all the items that form our budget, as a result of this, 2021, despite the pandemic and all other troubles, turned out to be extremely successful for Russia from a financial point of view. And this is very good: additional resources can be directed to social programs, the fight against coronavirus. And, of course, I would like not to forget about the development of the economy, “- said Korenev.
He stressed that it is precisely because of the lack of full-fledged investments in the development of the economy in Russia that there is a paradoxical situation when the country gets richer, but citizens' incomes continue to fall.
“Look, it all depends on how the budget revenues and expenditures are compared. Profitable is exports, taxes, excise taxes, duties. Expenses – medicine, education, business, assistance to the poor, pensions, – explained Korenev. – By the way, the Pension Fund has not been able to cope with it for a long time – about half of it is formed at the expense of federal funds, and this year the transfer will increase, it seems, by one trillion. So what to do to make the people rich? Handing out money will not work – this will only lead to an increase in inflation. In fact, additional funds must be directed to the development of the economy in order to increase labor productivity and increase the number of value-added enterprises. ”
Russia is the richest state, but, as Korenev said, exclusively at the expense of the resources available on the territory. The country has not developed its own high-tech production: there are no high-quality TVs, no phones, no cars. The economist is convinced that citizens will live richer only when Russia learns to produce.
“In terms of labor productivity, we lag behind the rest of the world by three and a half times, and this is what affects income. Naturally, people in other countries manage to produce more in the same period, and, accordingly, their salaries are higher. But, of course, all this must correspond to the available money supply. So the economy needs to be modernized. An increase in spending on this item always has a beneficial effect on the financial component, but we spend money on defense and security structures. The expenditure there is colossal, and there is no income, even though Russia exports some part of the defense industry. This article still does not bring money, “Korenev emphasized.
The economist concluded that an increase in the population's income is possible only if the entire system of the economy is reformed, the development of value-added enterprises and the growth of labor productivity.
Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Finance spoke about the need to control the rise in prices and recalled that restrictive measures are applied for this – export duties, a damper. The minister also stressed that states should not constantly print money, because in the end, citizens will have to pay for everything.