MOSCOW, August 7 The main reasons for the overheating of the Russian economy are the lack of personnel and free production capacity, such a combination of factors does not allow domestic production to increase to demand levels, while the ability of imports to close this «gap» is limited due to sanctions, the former Russian Finance Minister said in an interview and economist Mikhail Zadornov.
«The economy has actual growth rates and potential. Let's start with potential: it consists of three main factors. These are, first of all, labor resources. This is capital — both the companies themselves and external — which comes through investments. And this is production capacity. Given the current shortage of labor resources and free production capacity, the potential growth of domestic production is limited,» says Zadornov. 
The economist noted that production capacities have already reached the limit of their use since the fourth quarter of 2023: in some industries, they are already 90% operational. Also, for the first time in many years, a two-shift and even three-shift work schedule has returned to a number of industrial and service enterprises.
«Such growth rates indicate a lack of supply for the active demand of the population. If effective demand does not meet a corresponding supply of goods and services, the gap is «closed» by rising prices. Before the start of the SVO, it was partially filled by imports of consumer goods, cars, tourism services, and industrial equipment. In 2023, there was some recovery in imports, but from current statistics we see that it decreased by 10% in the first half of the year,» he says.
In addition, over the past two years, budget injections into the economy to maintain demand amounted to 2% of GDP annually, which is comparable to support for industry and the population during the pandemic, Zadornov recalled. 