Translated material
“What money is going away!”
Viktor Zubkov continued the tradition of criticizing current and former ministers
May men forgive me, we will talk about women - Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov began yesterday’s meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, primarily dedicated to the formation of development institutions, in approximately this spirit. “The apparatus decided to shift all the work to women ministers and ask them questions! But they made a good start, understood the matter and can answer any question. And soon they will have questions for those present in this room. And the prime minister will support them,” the prime minister promised for himself. After which he invited Minister of Economic Development and Trade Elvira Nabiullina to the podium.The country's new chief economist described in detail and without looking at the paper the situation with all development institutions, starting with the investment fund and ending with special economic zones. Ms. Minister especially emphasized that control and transparency, publicity and financial stability of these institutions are needed.
“Yes, a lot of money is allocated! There weren't any! - the Prime Minister immediately responded to the word “control”, which was well known to him from his previous work at Rosfinmonitoring. -- Unfortunately, embezzlement of budgetary funds is present in Russia. Those who want to are already rubbing their hands: “Oh, what money will come now!” And who will exercise control? Will there be a public? Ms. Nabiullina promised that there would be public participation, academics, and many others. “Money, money,” the prime minister repeated as a refrain. “We have to control it all the time!”
The ministers, having participated in the question and answer process, talked about endlessly changing tariffs and the problems of interdepartmental approvals. First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov in this regard decided to support the prime minister’s initiative: “I would like to come to the aid of the minister, as you asked, Viktor Alekseevich! Engage in energy saving. It is necessary to change the round-the-clock lighting in the entrances to the European system, when the light reacts to the arrival of a resident.” Mr. Zubkov could not resist: “We also need to install doors in the entrances. Otherwise they will take away your system along with the cartridges.”
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, despite the fact that he had already given up his supervision of the Ministry of Economic Development, also decided to provide “help” to the minister. He said that the government, by increasing the capitalization of development institutions, “is making a historic decision.” And he asked Ms. Nabiullina, not casually, but to tell in detail how much budget funds would be used for these needs. The chief economist dispassionately reported 640 billion rubles, which in 2007 will be distributed among development institutions (of which 340 billion are “remains” from YUKOS).
Responding to the wishes of business to slightly lower the investment threshold for investment fund projects from the current 5 billion rubles, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin proposed not to change the regulation on the investment fund. Instead, create similar funds in the regions, where the bar can be lowered to 1-2 billion rubles. The ministers supported the idea “in principle.”
Mr. Kudrin also spoke about another idea of the Ministry of Finance - to attract private investors to Rosselkhozbank, which today is 100% state-owned. “Even if as a first step, we won’t even talk about a blocking package,” noted the country’s chief financier. There was also talk about a possible IPO of Rosselkhozbank, in which Viktor Zubkov asked the Minister of Finance to help the bank.
The prime minister nodded favorably. However, apparently, he decided not to deviate from the signature style of parquet beatings of top officials. “I have a message for Levitin (Minister of Transport Igor Levitin. -- Ed. ) question. What about the Western High-Speed Diameter (the first high-speed toll road in Russia, which is planned to be built in St. Petersburg as part of an investment fund project. - Ed. )?” - he asked. “For it to work, we need changes to the regulations on the investment fund plus the law on concessions. We are coordinating,” the minister explained. “While approvals are ongoing, the project is becoming more and more expensive. It cost 82 billion rubles, today it’s already off the scale for 120 billion, what will happen tomorrow?! And you sit there, coordinating all the papers. This can be resolved within a week,” the prime minister fumed. “We have everything prepared,” Mr. Levitin objected timidly. “You have nothing ready. The city works, I know. But the federal authorities are doing nothing! - Mr. Zubkov was completely upset. “Don’t trick me around your finger here!”
Having given instructions to “deal with the high-speed diameter” within a week and promising personal participation, the prime minister returned to his favorite topics - work efficiency and agriculture. Having praised Ms. Nabiullina for her decent preparation in a short time, Mr. Zubkov said that the previous leadership of the MEDT (and not the current leadership of the relevant Ministry of Agriculture) “made a lot of mistakes in agriculture.” “Agriculture, in fact, did not develop,” the prime minister regretted. “What colossal amounts of money are spent abroad to buy products of unknown origin.” “Today the deficit in domestic meat production is 40%, dairy products - 25%. But the lack of food can cause social tension in the country,” the prime minister frightened his colleagues.
The quintessence of the discussion of the situation with development institutions was Alexei Kudrin’s confirmation of Ms. Nabiullina’s words about 640 billion rubles that development institutions would receive by the end of 2007. According to Mr. Kudrin, this amount is already included in the amendments to the 2007 budget, which will be proposed for approval by the Duma in October. And funding will begin in November.