VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:
Vladimir Putin: Mr Volkov, when we met in April of last year you spoke about your plans to launch a programme to build housing for young families. I asked Sberbank to join in and support you. Today I'd like to hear how this programme is going. This is the first point.
Second, let's look at the economy and social situation. I looked through the documents, and overall industrial production has increased somewhat. True, this increase is somewhat lower than the national average - about 5.8% as compared to about 4% in Udmurtia at the start of the year. But, overall the trend is positive.
Also, overall unpaid wages are falling. Recently they have been decreased by about 14%, and there are no unpaid wages to public sector employees. That's fine, but the situation on the labour market remains rather...
Alexander Volkov: ...difficult. I'll discuss this in my report.
Vladimir Putin: Please, begin.
Alexander Volkov: Mr Putin, the programme for which I asked for your support a year ago has gone further than we expected. Even the terms we signed with Sberbank after you met with the bank's CEO German Gref have exceeded our expectations.
Between April of last year and New Year's we issued loans to more than a thousand young families. Nobody else can get the kind of rates we have been able to offer through the agreement with Sberbank. We offer loans at 5% interest and make up the difference with the bank's interest rates ourselves. Also, the down payment is 10% rather than 30%, which also makes loans more accessible.
We supplement the maternity capital for the second child with 200,000 roubles for the third child. This also helps.
Moreover, housing is at least 15% less expensive because we directly invest in its construction and choose construction companies through tender. We fully guarantee that young families will receive this housing.
We continued this programme this year. As of today, we have already issued about 1,400 loans and hope to add another thousand this year and next year. This is a three-year programme for us.
Public sector employees have been paid in full. This year we have involved industrial workers in this programme, resolved that social issue and supported construction workers with one billion in loans and our own resources. On the whole, we expect to attract about four billion roubles of investment to the construction industry.
Addressing social issues has helped us to achieve positive demographic growth for the first time in the last 17 years. Over the past year, the number of births exceeded the number of deaths by almost one thousand, and this trend has continued through the first quarter of this year, when we have seen 26 more births and 111 fewer deaths than in the same period last year. Our social programmes, in particular those supporting young families, have produced this impressive demographic result.
Vladimir Putin: One thousand, four hundred loans, correct?
Alexander Volkov: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: Are they receiving flats?
Alexander Volkov: We guarantee 100% that they will receive flats, because the government itself is the guarantor. I'm overseeing this programme personally, working together with mayors to keep close track of it. There will be no mishaps - I guarantee that.
Vladimir Putin: How many families have already received flats?
Alexander Volkov: Out of the 1,400 that have been issued loans, half have already received their flats. All one thousand families who received loans last year will have housewarming and New Year's 2011 parties in their new flats. Those who apply for and receive loans before New Year's this year will receive their flats by next New Year's. And all flats from last year will be commissioned by next September, which, in addition to three months for paper work and relocation, will enable people to move into their new flats and celebrate New Year's there.
This programme has had a powerful effect. I have formulated our proposals based on our experience in a letter that could be used in the Federal Targeted Programme, especially a sub-programme for young families. This will have a powerful social effect and provide support for the construction industry.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
Alexander Volkov: In my letter I suggest a sub-programme providing housing for young families. The Ministry of Regional Development can study our experience and implement it in other regions. My proposal includes time schedules and specifies details, including on buildings and developers. This is a full report. And thank you for making the decision that has fully justified itself.
Vladimir Putin: Okay. Let's discuss the most pressing issue - the labour market.
Alexander Volkov: We have the situation with wages under control, as always. We have a permanent working group that I head. Plus our trilateral commission visits problematic companies every week and holds sessions. As of April 1, unpaid wages - 118 million roubles - had fallen by 14%. But there are three companies that are having problems. One of them is the Izhmash Group. Regrettably, all three companies in Izhevsk are big.
However, we are at least preventing this situation from getting any worse. Public sector employees are receiving their wages right on time, despite difficulties. In other words, we did not allow any unpaid wages to accumulate last year and will not allow any this year. We will continue working with companies to protect their employees as much as possible. But even now wages are delayed no more than a month.
Vladimir Putin: I looked through the applications for releasing workers. There are still several of them. Is the programme to support the market working?
Alexander Volkov: Yes. During the past year we implemented all measures to alleviate the problems in the labour market. But we have long had a high unemployment rate because of big companies and the crisis of the 1990s. This time, we were again let down by IzhAvto, which has been idle since May of the past year. We have lost 2,500 workers in 2009.
Vladimir Putin: Well, then let's discuss individual companies.
Alexander Volkov: In general, we have no problems with other companies. Their directors correctly understand the issue, which means they are cutting working hours instead of dismissing workers. But overall, I believe that we have this situation under control, with the exception of IzhAvto.
Vladimir Putin: Let's discuss major companies in more detail.
