Translated material
Economy Government
There was extra money in the “tight budget” of 2010
Russia's budget deficit for 2010 will be reduced by approximately 500 billion rubles, Vladimir Putin announced yesterday at a government meeting. However, according to him, ministers should not relax in this regard, since the social sphere requires significant financial investments.Opening the meeting, the Prime Minister said that Russia will allocate 105 million euros for joint cross-border cooperation projects with EU member states. We are talking about interaction with countries such as Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Moscow will subsidize this program together with Brussels, and the amount allocated by the European Union is slightly more than that allocated by Russia. “This is a good example of a mutually beneficial and equal partnership that will benefit people on both sides of borders, facilitate human contacts, allow new business contacts to be established, new additional jobs to be created and, in general, will serve as another step towards building strategic relations,” -- Mr. Putin is confident.
However, the government’s plans include not only the development of areas adjacent to the EU border, but also the comprehensive development of all Russian federal districts. The prime minister said that ministers must approve an appropriate strategy and draw up lists of priority projects in industry and the social sphere, “which need to be implemented in the next two to three years.” This initiative can be brought to life only in conditions of full interaction between federal authorities and regional administrations. The head of government instructed the Ministry of Regional Development to coordinate this work.
After this, the prime minister began discussing the budget deficit. Referring to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, he said that in 2010 it would be possible to reduce it from 2.9 billion rubles. up to 2.4 billion. This will be done thanks to funds received in the form of additional income. As a result, the deficit will be 5.4% of GDP instead of the previously approved 6.8%. “Thanks to the economic recovery, we now have the opportunity to increase financing of priority items and quickly reduce the budget deficit. However, I would like to emphasize that the budget remains tight,” Mr. Putin said.
“As for new expenses, they are primarily related to the fulfillment of social obligations, the payment of pensions, and the provision of housing for military personnel and veterans of the Great Patriotic War,” the prime minister explained. According to him, 150 billion rubles. will be used to cover the Pension Fund budget deficit. Financing federal and regional additional payments to pensions, due to the introduction of a new pension system in the country, will require 13.1 billion rubles. It is also planned to allocate 82.3 billion rubles. to provide housing for veterans of the Great Patriotic War, 42.9 billion rubles. -- for housing for military personnel discharged from the armed forces, 10 billion rubles. -- for housing for citizens discharged from military service and registered with local governments. Another 10 billion rubles. will be allocated for the “junk auto” recycling program. “It is necessary for the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Finance to agree among themselves on how to organize this work,” Mr. Putin added. In addition, 7.8 billion rubles will be allocated to create a transport security system, and 5 billion rubles will be allocated as a subsidy to balance regional budgets.
“In addition, we found an opportunity to speed up the implementation of a number of investment projects, including the reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Conservatory, and the Ocean children's center in the Primorsky Territory. Also 16 billion rubles. allocated for the construction of new city roads. First of all, we mean those cities where the internal road network is, to put it mildly, not in the best condition, and the state of federal and municipal finances does not allow for quickly solving these problems,” the prime minister said.
Among other government expenditures listed by the Prime Minister, the allocation of 15 billion rubles. to cover the budget deficit of the Social Insurance Fund, 8.8 billion rubles. for additional payments to increase pensions to the subsistence level. Also this year an additional 5 billion rubles will be allocated. for the construction of Universiade facilities in Kazan . Another 4 billion rubles. additionally allocated for the creation of infrastructure for special economic zones, 5.5 billion for media support. Additional funds are also provided for the reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular 1.3 billion rubles. will be additionally allocated in 2010 to provide housing for employees of this department.
The prime minister deserves special mention of the industrial complex in the city of Pikalevo, which he personally knew, where he personally resolved a dispute between business entities. Let us remember that at the beginning of 2009, three city-forming enterprises of Pikalev stopped operating. More than one and a half thousand people were left without work. And after some time, the local thermal power plant stopped functioning due to debts. Trying to draw attention to their misfortune, at the beginning of June last year, city residents blocked the federal highway, after which the Prime Minister visited Pikalevo . After this, the situation in the city returned to normal.
Speaking at a government meeting yesterday, Putin recalled this story, citing it as an example of how to quickly respond to emerging problems. “The situation arose - we reacted to it and then still did not abandon it, but are bringing it to an end now,” he said, adding that the government has allocated 350 million rubles. to ensure the transportation of raw materials for the Pikalevo industrial complex. “We need to follow through with all decisions made and ensure that these decisions are implemented,” the prime minister concluded.
Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Finance Alexei Kudrin also spoke about the problems of the Russian budget at a briefing held after the government meeting. Answering the question whether, due to the increase in budget revenues for 2010, it is planned to move to a deficit-free budget in a shorter period of time, the minister said: “Not yet.” “Of course, it would be correct, taking into account the higher price of oil, to adjust our initial deficit forecast - 4% in 2011, 3% in 2012, 2% in 2013, but this decision will be made by the government, when will he submit the budget for the next three years,” Mr. Kudrin said.
Speaking about income from the increase in oil and gas prices, the head of the Ministry of Finance said that they would increase by 1 trillion 151.3 billion rubles. True, he immediately added that along with the prices for hydrocarbons, the exchange rate also changed. “And we will immediately lose 539.6 billion rubles due to exchange rate differences. due to a stronger exchange rate than we initially expected,” the minister complained.
The increase in imports will bring an additional 132 billion rubles to the treasury. In total, revenues will increase by 833.8 billion rubles. In addition, part of the costs will be redistributed due to savings on individual items. Savings on expenses, taking into account the adjustment of the Russian currency exchange rate, will amount to 27.7 billion rubles, on servicing public debt - 13.7 billion rubles, due to new property tax rates for budgetary institutions - 12.9 billion rubles. The budget will also save 100 billion rubles, which were planned to be used for additional capitalization of banks as an anti-crisis measure. The total savings will amount to 154.3 billion rubles, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
To this he added that the Ministry of Finance will adjust the inflation forecast for the current year. “We previously predicted that inflation would be 10%, the current forecast is no more than 7%, and maybe even less,” Mr. Kudrin said.