Russian Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref
Photo: Vasily Alexandrov
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State Investment Will Wait for Autumn
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade is behind in the implementation of state investments. In the first quarter of the year, the investment plan was 6.5 percent filled, compared to last year's 9.8 percent. The progress of federal targeted programs and federal recipient-oriented programs will be discussed at a meeting of the government today. Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Andrey Belousov will stand in for his boss German Gref, who is in St. Petersburg for the economic forum.
Those programs are the main instruments for state investment. In 2007, federal targeted programs have been set at 509.5 billion rubles, and federal recipient-oriented programs at 500.1 billion rubles. This year's poor performance comes in spite of the fact the number of targeted programs has been reduced from 51 to 46. Disputes between Economics Minister Gref and Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin have not helped, nor has Prime Minster Mikhail Fradkov's exhortations to budget discipline.
Relations between Gref and Kudrin heated up even further with the consideration of the draft of the new Budget Code. Kudrin wanted to take this stage of state investment away from Gref next year and to switch to a three-year cycle of financing. He was not entirely successful in that pursuit. The version of the Budget Code approved by the State Duma foresees a transition period with annual financing through 2009.
Both ministries have to approve the list of programs for funding. This year, the situation is developing just as it did in 2006, that is, late. The list of 2006 programs was approved only in February 2007. That delay is an addition argument for Kudrin to use in support of the new Budget Code.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 07, 2007
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