10 December 2003 11:42
Russia moves towards independence of world oil prices - minister
Starting from 2004, Russia intends to maintain economic growth and fulfil its budget obligations irrespective of any
fluctuations of world oil prices, Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin has told parliament's upper chamber, the
Council of Federation, presenting the 2004 draft federal budget.
Kudrin said that the 2004 draft federal budget forecast economic growth at 5.2 per cent next year.
The Russian economy will have grown by 6.6 per cent and investments by 11.2 per cent in 2003, Kudrin noted.
In its 0847 gmt report on 10 December, ITAR-TASS reported that Kudrin had said that the 2004 draft federal budget
envisaged setting up a stabilization fund which would accumulate reserves which would be used when the situation was not
favourable on the world raw material markets. The stabilization fund will accumulate R83bn in 2004 and this figure will
grow to R500bn by 2006, Kudrin said.
"This R500bn is a minimum cushion which will enable the Russian economy to remain stable should oil prices
drop," Kudrin noted.
In a further report carried at 0926 gmt, ITAR-TASS quoted Kudrin as saying that the government's main task in
2004 was to ensure pay rise for public-sector workers.
"We have worked on this problem while drafting the 2004 federal budget and we have managed to make it balanced.
One should not worry about this," the Russian finance minister noted.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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