The aggressor-controlled “Crimean media” are gradually beginning to “prepare” the population for the “new reality” that has arrived in the territory seized by the Kremlin since January 1, after the introduction of “new federal and local tax rates.”
It is stated that the current increase in value-added tax to 22% “will primarily lead to an increase in prices for essential goods,” and will fuel ruble inflation by an additional 5%.
Moreover, the formal preservation of the previous rate “for socially significant goods does not mean that they will not become more expensive,” but rather the opposite – their prices will rise, “even outpacing the overall average inflation rates.”
Also, all attempts by the aggressor’s central bank to restrain the inflationary spiral to a “psychological” 10% per year will lead to artificial support of the already inflated ruble exchange rate against convertible currencies, as well as to the maintenance of a high interest rate, under which “loans have become inaccessible to businesses and the population.”
It is noteworthy that such “optimistic” forecasts coincide quite well with the data from the Crimean real estate market, traditionally considered by the occupiers as the “main driver of regional economic growth,” and as a tool for the colonization of the occupied territories.
Even “positive experts” are now forced to admit that in the primary real estate market in 2025, prices per square meter increased by 10%, but demand fell by 20%, both for “mortgages” and for transactions, and in addition to this figure, it “has moved into a hidden phase and into the category of deferred demand,” and the situation is similar in the secondary residential real estate market.
For 2026, a further increase in housing prices of up to 15% is predicted, although “demand will decrease in any case, because it is strongly tied to purchasing power,” which is showing steady “negative growth” in the Kremlin-controlled territory.
