15 April 2004 20:29
Russian daily views minister`s address on 2002 budget implementation
Yesterday saw the fourth Duma's first "government hour". Although from time to time the current
deputies have attempted to invite ministers to Okhotnyy Ryad [Duma office], but not very vigorously - the government was
being reformed so the deputies were not very clear about who was responsible for what. Therefore all appeals were
addressed mainly to cabinet head Mikhail Fradkov. The situation is now entirely clear and an ordinary event, from the
viewpoint of Duma standing orders, showed that the new government has started work and the new deputies are prepared to
take them to task. [Passage omitted on Agriculture Minister Aleksey Gordeyev's report]
Thirty minutes later the Duma platform was again occupied by government representatives reporting on the
implementation of the 2002 budget. Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin announced that the pre-crisis level of
economic development had been achieved and the consequences of the default had been overcome. The federal budget revenue
in the year under review was R2,204bn and the expenditure was R2,054bn. The budget surplus in 2002 was R154,534m. GDP
was R10,863bn. The inflation figure incorporated in the 2002 budget was 12 per cent, and while actual inflation in the
period under review "rose" to 15.1 per cent.
The population's real incomes increased by 9.9 per cent (allowing for inflation) and pay increased by 16.2 per
cent. According to Kudrin, the growth of the Russian economy in the next few years is bound to be accompanied by an
increase in the money supply. In itself this process does not pose a threat to the economy, the minister said. "It
is important to ensure that it is accompanied by our planned increase in the demand for money, increased confidence in
the rouble, and slower capital turnover. The state Duma yesterday adopted on the whole the Federal Law "On the
Implementation of the 2002 Federal Budget."
[Rossiyskaya Gazeta] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
