| The Prime Minister assigns roles Minister of Economic Development German Gref has recently received special attention from Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The First Minister literally does not let the chief economist relax for a minute. Constantly demands something. Either a socio-economic forecast that will ensure high rates of economic growth and doubling of GDP, or an investment fund that will help fulfill the first two tasks. Yesterday, at a government meeting, they again discussed a list of federal target programs (FTPs) that would help “shake out” one or two percent of growth from industries.
Mr. Gref appointed his deputy Vitaly Savelyev to speak in his place. But Mikhail Fradkov addressed his response from the throne directly to the head of the Russian economy. In a protracted dispute about the effectiveness of the Federal Target Program and the desire to form a high-quality investment portfolio, the Prime Minister turned to Mr. Gref and said: “It depends on you!” “What depends on me?” - the chief economist asked irritably. Mr. Fradkov patiently explained that the same thing “depends”: growth rates and doubling. And he promised that for promising infrastructure projects the Ministry of Finance will give as much money as the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade decides. “What will the rest of the government do?!” - Mr. Gref became more and more irritated. “Together with the government,” the prime minister corrected his colleague. - Look! “I’ll look,” the minister responded unkindly. “You just need to understand that doubling GDP in three years is impossible.” “The conversation about doubling was not about 2008, but about 2010,” Mr. Fradkov clarified. “And by 2010 it’s unrealistic!” - Mr. Gref stood to death. “Look. German Oskarovich, you should be interested in speeding up this work (this means finally forming a package of proposals for public investment. - Ed. ). And you should ask yourself, not just anyone, but yourself, whether the growth rate is sufficient,” the prime minister sternly recommended.
The topic of “searching for growth points” has become key in the relationship between the prime minister and representatives of the economic bloc. There is a lot of misunderstanding here, little consensus. But if earlier Mr. Fradkov launched an attack simultaneously on two top ministers - finance and economic development - and received only an Italian strike in response, now he has begun to act more skillfully. Now, from time to time, he becomes a supporter of one thing or another: let them, they say, “bite” not me, but each other.
When the financial plan for three years was drawn up, the prime minister argued with all his might with the chief financier Alexei Kudrin. And he defended Mr. Gref’s investment claims. Today, when the time has come to draw up a portfolio of targeted government investments and actually create the investment fund itself, Mr. Fradkov said: “At this stage, I support the Ministry of Finance. Forget about the stabilization fund. You have to think about where to put the empty buckets. Under the petrodollar rain. And what beds to water! Talking for a long time and not getting results is counterproductive!”
In the prime minister’s opinion, the investment efforts of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade are “inept” and are “not focused on the main direction.” “You have a methodology with points in one place, and uninstalled equipment in another. Points should not replace actual housework. Let's get our hands in there. Prove the effectiveness of government investments, he advised economists. And he added: - Alexey Leonidovich (Kudrin - Ed. ) allows himself to ask five questions. And he does the right thing." And rightly so, as it turned out, because no one keeps track of who is using state investments and how.
“Where is the money?!” - asked the eternal question of the Prime Minister. There was no answer. “There are excellent students. There are bad students. There is Gref, who must deal with all this. Everything else is “boo-boo-boo,” the head of the cabinet continued. - So that you have everything until October. Keep shaking!” Here Gref’s deputy, Mr. Savelyev, even somehow joyfully stated that the frequency of shaking of ministries and departments - government customers - will increase. Mikhail Fradkov did not protest.
Against the general background of the global discussion about investments, two small lobbying topics slipped into the government meeting. The deputies, together with the Minister of Science and Education Andrei Fursenko, fought for the resumption of the federal target program “Youth of Russia”. And they didn’t even think about being embarrassed by the far-fetched nature of this project. Among the items that the state will have to invest in this federal target program is, for example, “ensuring youth turnout for elections.” The absurdity is not only that this violates the free expression of citizens, but also that this should also be done at the expense of budget money. The second rather persistent lobbyist was the head of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Viktor Khristenko. He fought for the “Three E” - the Federal Target Program “Energy-Efficient Economy”, which was also put under the knife.
It is possible that lobbyists will achieve the restoration of their “state stakes”. After all, recently, under the political “must!” Even the stingy knight of domestic finance, Alexey Kudrin, broke down. At one of the working meetings, he spoke out in favor of 100% financing of the most wasteful federal targeted programs - the development of Tatarstan and Bashkiria. Which, against the national background, seem to be developing quite well. Vera KUZNETSOVA |
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