Gref presented the results of a study of labor productivity at Russian enterprises

Herman Gref, President and Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank, presented the results of the country's first detailed study of labor productivity at enterprises in various industries. The analysis was carried out by specialists from the Center for Macroeconomic research "Sbera", the press service of the bank reported.

"We analyzed labor productivity at individual enterprises, not by industry. The study showed that there are competitive companies within any industry, as well as the so-called distribution tail. Moreover, the difference between the leaders and the laggards reaches five times. This is significantly higher than in developed economies or in China, where the maximum gap is three times," Gref said, speaking at the plenary session "Heading for Long—term Growth: How not to lose opportunities," which opened the Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia.

According to the president of Sberbank, this situation has developed for three reasons. We are talking about chronic underinvestment, primarily in technology, the quality of management in companies and high barriers to the flow of labor and capital.

"Calculations show that if at least 50% of companies are brought up to the level of the top 10% in terms of productivity, this can lead to an additional 2-3% increase in GDP per year. The introduction of technology can increase labor productivity by 11-22%, depending on the specific company. If we combine generative and physical artificial intelligence (robots), the potential for productivity growth is even higher — 21-33%. The question is how to systematically use these factors at the industry level and what levers the government has," Gref stressed.

Alexander Novak, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Vladimir Verkhoshinsky, Chief Executive Officer of Alfa Bank, and Andrey Kostin, President of VTB Bank, also took part in the discussion.

The Financial Congress of the Bank of Russia is a key platform for an open dialogue between the Central Bank and the financial market. The plenary sessions and panel discussions are devoted to monetary policy, banking regulation and macroeconomics.