Translated material
Two weeks before the Development Bank
The President signed a law on the creation of a financial institution
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law establishing the Development Bank . He announced this yesterday at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, expressing hope that the creation of the bank will begin in the very near future. The Prime Minister, who will head the bank's supervisory board, has already informed the president about his proposals for the work of the future bank.“We have long talked about the need to create such an institute. I hope that the provisions that are enshrined in the law will be implemented in the very near future,” the president said.
As you know, during the passage of the law in the Duma, it was decided to retain the Vnesheconombank brand for the new bank. Now the official name of the financial institution being created is the state corporation “Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)”.
“This also applies to you personally - we said that the supervisory board should be headed by the chairman of the government,” Putin said, addressing Mikhail Fradkov. The law stipulates that the head of the cabinet heads a supervisory board consisting of another eight people. The chairman of Vnesheconombank also serves on the board ex officio. Members of the council are appointed by the government for a period of five years, and, according to the law, dismissal from the civil service is not grounds for termination of membership in the council. In this case, membership in the council may be terminated by government decision.
The prime minister called the signing of the law “a very timely decision.” “We planned to register a new Development Bank on the basis of Vnesheconombank within literally two weeks and make decisions on the supervisory board, on the chairman of this bank,” he said. The head of the cabinet of ministers promised the president to present his proposals soon: “I have thoughts on this matter, I will ask you to support.” Fradkov noted that the government is beginning to “actively work to solve the problems of diversifying the economy, giving it a universal character.” As an example of this work, he mentioned that an hour before his meeting with the head of state, the state commission considered the problems of development of the Russian Far East. “This development institution will play a significant role in resolving major socio-economic issues,” Fradkov said, speaking about the tasks of the Development Bank.
The Development Bank will be created on the basis of Vnesheconombank, Roseximbank and the Russian Development Bank. It will not have a banking license (the bank will operate on the basis of federal law), and the organization will be controlled by its supervisory board, consisting of eight government members. The authorized capital of the Development Bank at the creation stage will be 70 billion rubles. It will also include shares of Roseximbank and the Russian Development Bank. By 2010, according to forecasts by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the bank's authorized capital may increase to 200 billion rubles.
The main tasks of the bank will be lending to infrastructure projects, supporting the export of Russian goods, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as managing the investment fund, which is currently managed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
According to experts, there are currently 750 state-controlled development banks in the world. The share of development banks in Asia accounts for 12% of loans, and in Germany - 8%, in Latin America the share of lending reaches 30%.