The results of 2004 demonstrate that overall "we may speak of financial and economic stabilization". The government "will be able to structure its work to achieve the objectives set by the president, including doubling GDP over 10 years, improving the standard of living and making the economy competitive", Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said today when addressing a national conference of the Emergencies Ministry.
He said that he had met the leaders of the State Duma this morning to plan joint work for the immediate term "taking account of critical analysis and the desire to pool efforts to compile the medium-term programme for economic development in 2005-2008".
The objectives for further development of the economy are not easy, Fradkov said, "which means we should draw the essential conclusion about accountability for this work, while the medium-term programme should be under constant public scrutiny".
Fradkov said that at the moment "on the agenda is the positioning of the Russian economy in the world economy" against a background of globalisation and the emergence of "hot political issues". This is why it is essential "to concentrate on the appearance of bottlenecks and to bring domestic growth factors into play, bearing in mind dependence on external circumstances and the export-oriented and raw-materials base of the economy".
The prime minister said all the ministries and departments have already worked out a strategy to develop their sectors and these will be "inlaid" into the medium-term programme. The government will also be guided by "quality indices" for the work of the sectors, thereby ensuring "the applied nature of the programme, which should be balanced and adequately funded".
Fradkov told the conference the rate of growth of GDP for 2004 would be 6.8-7 per cent, industrial output would grow by 6.4 per cent and real incomes would rise by 9 per cent, Interfax news agency reported (0838 gmt).

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow
BBC Monitoring