Russian austerity: Putin fires one hundred ten,000 officers

Vladimir Putin in 90 Seconds This is what belt-tightening looks like in Russia: Vladimir Putin has fired one hundred ten,000 federal government officers at a stroke.

The Russian president signed a decree final 7 days restricting the variety of personnel utilized by the Inside Ministry to just over 1 million. That calls for enormous layoffs that will carry overall headcount down by ten%.

Administrative employees will bear the brunt of the cuts at the ministry, which controls the Russian police, paramilitary safety forces and the street site visitors safety agency.

Russia is slashing govt spending by 10% throughout the board this yr as it suffers its worst financial disaster in a long time.

The double whammy of tumbling oil charges and Western sanctions, imposed on Russia over its involvement in the crisis in Ukraine, has hit difficult.

The economic system shrank by 2.two% in the very first quarter. The IMF expects it to agreement by three.8% this yr, and by more than one% in 2016.

Putin took a pay out cut of ten% in March, soon right after demanding each government department — apart from protection — lessen investing.

Officials figures show unemployment rose to five.4% in June, in comparison to 4.8% a calendar year ago.