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
“We need to see the prospects, and in this respect it is no secret that strategic forecasting is an important component of the development strategy for our economy and for this country in general. This is not idle talk, nor is it guesswork. We must proceed based on expert evaluation of the development of the global economy and the Russian economy, and to take a close and professional look at a more distant perspective.”
“In fact, Vnesheconombank has become an important integrated institution promoting the development of the national economy. The bank considerably increased its participation in financing major investment projects in the last four years, which means the creation of new jobs and the development of new technology”.
“On the backdrop of rather complicated global economic and financial processes, Russia confidently started 2012. The first two months of the year saw positive dynamics in practically all of the key areas and indicators.”
“The most important achievement of this past year is the consolidation of the trend towards steady growth. The Russian economy has overcome the effects of the crisis and has reached its pre-crisis figures in key parameters.”
“None of the developed economies will have a budget surplus this year; while Russia’s federal revenue will exceed expenditures. Inflation will be the lowest in recent history this year – 7%, which is even below the estimates. The country’s reserve funds are growing too. We have a healthy economy and financial sector and we stand a good chance of making a development breakthrough.”
“Within the next few years we will have to fundamentally change our economy. These are not our ambitions, nor a slogan, but the requirements of the day. This is a challenge that faces the entire world in general and Russia in particular. Only an efficient, competitive economy with a powerful industrial and technological base will allow us to feel confident in the constantly developing world, to reduce our dependence on complicated and turbulent processes in the world economy and guarantee our protection against global risks.”
“I should note that rates in Russia always increase on January 1. This creates expectations of inflation, and drives inflationary pressure from the very beginning of the year. That is why I propose to cap the increase in Russian Railways’ rates at 6% as of January 1, 2012. <…>All other increases will not take effect on January 1, 2012, but on July 1, 2012 – these include a maximum increase of 15% in gas prices and increases to keep pace with inflation on electricity, which includes grid maintenance and heating. This is in light of the fact that energy consumption declines in the warm season and consumers will find the higher prices easier to bear than in winter.”
“As the overall economic situation stabilised and post-crisis growth began, it started to pay greater attention to long-term goals rather than emergency support measures for specific sectors and enterprises. First and foremost, I have in mind projects for modernisation and re-equipment and, naturally, for promoting small and medium-sized businesses.”
“Last year Russia became the global leader in oil production, with over 500 million metric tonnes. We took over the first position, overtaking all other oil producing countries. I'd like to congratulate our oil industry for this result – 500 million tonnes of oil is exactly the quantity that we need to meet both domestic and export requirements, and we should maintain production at this level in the coming years.”
“I suppose that expanded vocational education, primarily secondary and primary education, is a priority task facing the state and the business community. We must see to it that this kind of education meets the demands of modern production. We must renew the technical base for training specialists. <…> All of us need to work to raise the prestige of industrial careers and to enhance the public significance of skilled labour.”
“We must give priority to the development of all non-oil and gas sectors. I’d like to emphasise that I’m referring to the modern industry capable of producing the competitive products required in Russia (and primarily in Russia) and the rest of the world. This economy must be based on such basic market notions as profitability, demand and return on investment. Therefore, business, and in fact only business, can become the driving force of this project. The government can only help it by creating the right conditions.”
“We are setting ourselves an ambitious goal – to make Russia one of the world’s top five economies in a decade and to increase the GDP per capita from a little over $19,000 today to $35,000 and a bit more. The living standards of our people, as well as the quality of education and healthcare must be comparable to those in the leading world economies.”
“We need to consistently work toward reducing Russia’s dependence on the commodity market. We all understand this and have been discussing it for many years. In fact our common strategic goal is to ensure a sustainable and quality growth of our economy based on the domestic market and non-resource related sector.”
“I believe that in 2010, we laid the foundation for moving forward and addressing the long-term goals of our development. There are, of course, still certain risks in the economy, but there are positive trends as well. The process of recovery in industry and the banking sector is gathering ever more momentum and force”.
“Indeed, we do have something to show for all the work we have done. The key indicators, of course, are the falling rate of unemployment and the reduction in the number of people who live below the poverty line. We have managed to make progress on this even during the global financial and economic crisis. Of course, it had something to do with the changing trends in economic development. Last year we saw a major slump, 7.9%. This year we expect a growth of about 9%, and the industry indicators are even better, a growth of more than 8% and rising real wages.”
“The proportion of Russians living below the poverty line has decreased from 13.1% last year to 12.5% this year. Is that a lot? I would say that this is a positive change. I'd like to remind you that 29% of people in Russia, or about 45 million, were living below the poverty line in the year 2000.”
“The main issue today is the development of our economy. It is in our common interest to make progress by modernising production, creating efficient and higher-paying jobs as well as enhancing labour productivity. Incidentally, this year we have seen a growth in labour productivity, not a record one but still a stable one. And we must maintain such quality of industrial development by all means. Otherwise, Russian businesses will not be able to remain competitive, and new jobs will be created abroad rather than in Russia - similar things are happening in Western Europe.”
“We are now experiencing the lowest inflation in 20 years: 3.8% for the first four months of the year. It's clear that this is very important and beneficial for encouraging investment and increasing lending, especially long-term lending. More importantly, low inflation allows us not only to maintain people's real incomes, but steadily increase them. Today we see an upward trend in key economic indices. Russia's GDP is expected to grow by 3.5%-4% in 2010, according to the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development. There are even more optimistic scenarios, but we will proceed from that conservative estimate. Russian industry performed extremely well in April, posting double-digit growth, 10.4%, for the first time.”
“Starting in July 2009, the Russian economy has shown increasingly steady signs of recovery. According to official government forecasts, in 2010, GDP is slated to increase 3.1%. Nevertheless, there is a high probability that the growth rate will be higher. The preliminary results of the first quarter of 2010 inspire optimism. Growth in industrial production was 5.8% and real income increased 7.4%. All of this enables us to say that the recession is over in our economy. More importantly, we have very good starting conditions for further progress.”
“The economy showed clear signs of improvement during the second half of last year. GDP and industrial production began growing again, and there have been some signs of recovery in investment.”
