Earlier, he said it would be rather difficult to allocate $500m in government guarantees to exporters in 2004, as projected in the budget. According to Mr. Gref, the legal base necessary for the granting of the guarantees, has been mainly prepared, but its main part has not yet been approved. So, the only mechanism to support exporters remains on paper. “It seems we will not be able to offer massive support to exporters in 2004,” Mr. Gref admitted.

In particular, Mr. Gref said $150m would be allocated next year to equalize interest rates on loans taken out by exporters, and $100m would be allotted for new loans.

At the same time, the Economy Minister said this was less than in many industrially developed and developing countries. He stressed that it was a priority for the government to launch the mechanism to support Russian exporters. In his opinion, the creation of a transparent mechanism of supporting exporters, combined with some other measures, will enable the government to allocate more funds for the purpose in 2006.

According to Mr. Gref, the Finance Ministry will prepare amendments to the Budget Code regarding the granting of government guarantees.