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
“Support from Russian citizens has always helped us, and I’m confident that the government’s future line-up will rely on the people. We must never forget about the needs of ordinary people. We must always remember how government-level decisions influence the lives of all ordinary Russian citizens.”
“Russia will see a 6% GDP growth by the end of this year, even despite the problems. People's real incomes will have grown by around 7%; the growth in January-October was 7.6%. Eleven-month inflation was 12.5% and is expected to hit 13.5% in 2008. We have also seen an economic slowdown in the past few months.”
“The declining global prices of oil, metals and other commodities Russia traditionally exports, may still lead us to a negative foreign trade balance. This is a factor of pressure on the national currency. Nevertheless, we are determined to do our best to prevent sharp fluctuations of the rouble. Russia has sufficient reserves for that.”
“On the upside, industrial production will show some overall growth by the end of this year: it went up 4.9% in January through October (0.6% in October alone). Yet, as I have said, a number of sectors are currently forced to slash production to reduce costs. Our metals and chemical industries, building materials production and engineering were hit the hardest because they depend heavily either on exports or on investor demand.”
“Russia will fully abide by its international financial commitments and take part in anti-crisis measures together with other countries. If necessary we will support our partners on a bilateral basis. I have already said publicly that we have transferred $1 billion to the International Monetary Fund which redistributes the money, with our participation, among the countries that are the hardest hit by the crisis. I repeat, if necessary, we will support our partners on a bilateral basis, not stopping short of credit lending.”
“I'd like to emphasize the importance of speeding up the formation of the Customs Union of the Troika: Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The sides have signed a cohesive package of agreements for developing regulating standards, including rules for applying common customs tariffs.”
“We believe that cooperation within EurAsEC is an effective strategy with the potential to ensure economic stability and further growth in the region. We therefore support the expedition of the integration processes, above all the organisation and launch of the EurAsEC Customs Union. It is vital to stimulate mutual trade, joint investment projects, production cooperation and thus preserve jobs and open new markets for our businessmen.”
"I note with satisfaction that our trade has been growing: last year it reached $1.2 billion and this year will approach two billion, or about $1.7 billion. Russian direct investments in the Kyrgyz economy have also been growing."
“The Kazakh and the Russian economies have some endemic issues. I'm referring to a big share of the mining industry, and the role of oil and gas in both economies. We have discussed this. I believe that we should not simply help each other as we have been doing and are going to do in the future, but that we should coordinate more proactive plans.”
“I think in this difficult situation we should support Russian farm equipment producers (with an emphasis on equipment actually manufactured in Russia) by increasing new and second-hand farm machine import duties.<…> I think we should agree with manufacturers and establish combine harvester import duties at 15% but no less than 120 Euros per cubic centimetre of the engine displacement.”
