Rossiiskaya Gazeta: "We have made it through the year with dignity"
ON MONDAY, President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin summarised the outgoing year at the Government House.
As he was opening a Government meeting, Mr Putin described the anti-crisis steps taken by the Cabinet. Mr Medvedev, who appeared toward the end of the meeting, concisely described future priorities.
"We have made it through the year with dignity, and met all its challenges," the President told the Cabinet. "The war in South Ossetia could not but leave an imprint on Russia's development. It came as the year's watershed, and showed that this country possesses sufficient economic and military might to protect its citizens' interests."
A financial crisis struck Russia, as the whole world, in the second half of the year. The President and the Prime Minister fully agreed with each other as to where it had originated, and why. "Our problems are rooted not in our own economy but elsewhere. In fact, we are paying for headlong moves to give a new lease on life to another national economy, which created tremendous hazards and bore dire fruit worldwide," Mr Medvedev said. It was the Government's duty to overcome the aftermath of the collapse, he added with emphasis. However efficient the Cabinet might be, he said to it yesterday: "The anti-crisis programme the Government is implementing is well-balanced, in my opinion. It is far from ideal-but then, there is no such thing as an ideal programme. At any rate, it answers the most formidable challenges and leaves room for corrections, as every programme should."
As he enumerated key priorities, the President said that Russia would not give up its goal of modernising the economy through innovations, would do as much as possible for social welfare, and promote private enterprise - "crisis or no crisis". He put special emphasis on social welfare as the key indicator of national development, and said that cuts on social expenditures were inadmissible.
"We might differ on some problems, but agreement at the top matters most-and, I think, we are preserving it. The President, the Government, and the Federal Assembly are working as a well-knit team," he said.
Vladimir Putin had been chairing the year's last Government meeting before the President appeared. The Prime Minister also summarised the year, also dividing it in two. As the person in charge of the economy, he used the peak of the global economic crisis as the watershed moment.
Despite everything, he complimented the Russian economy on the year's achievements. Average wages have grown by 10-12%, agricultural output and economic investment by 10%, and pensions by a third. The other macroeconomic indices are no less hopeful. Inflation forecasts are at 13.5%, and unemployment at 7%. "True, we could have done better, with the good start the first six months of the year gave us," Mr Putin remarked, and continued with a smile: "We have been talking about the necessity of integrating into the world economy since the early 1990s-and here we are, we've got what we asked for!
Russia's specific economic structure makes it especially sensitive to global integration. Slumping prices of metals, energy, and other basic Russian exports have dealt the hardest blow on the national economy, as Mr Putin expected. "We always knew in our macroeconomic planning that things might take a bad turn. I have often warned about the danger of market fluctuations," he said. Not that it was the only forecast made by the Government. As he was addressing the Davos Economic Forum in early 2008, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said that the Russian economy would offer foreign capital an island of stability. Despite that, the upcoming lean years have not caught the Government off-guard: its "accurate financial policy has helped it to form huge reserves so that, when dire apprehensions became true, they found Russia with resources sufficient for anti-crisis action."
It will take trillions of roubles to withstand the global collapse next year. As far as Rossiiskaya Gazeta knows, the Central Bank and the Government have stocked up a reserve exceeding 10 trillion roubles for 2009. The Prime Minister admits that it is more than will be needed. Thrift matters most-the money must not be squandered during the crisis. Banking is the lifeline of the national economy, and it needs support, as Putin says, not to retain bankers' wealth but to rescue private deposits and banking transactions. The Government did much to help banks in 2008 with unsecured loans, capital replenishment, reduced legal reserve rates, etc. Soft taxation promotes business activity, which compensates shrinking fiscal revenues. Industry also got loans and other help. A list of 300 strategic companies entitled to the largest allocations was drawn up in December.
The state expects its beneficiaries to carry on investment projects and promote employment. The Government will closely supervise compliance with labour laws, Putin stressed as he called courts to give priority to arbitrary dismissal lawsuits.
As he summarised the outgoing year, the Prime Minister also described priorities for 2009. Like the President, he also attached primary importance to social welfare. He promised spectacular achievements by the end of the year-the average social pension rising to the subsistence level, housing construction gaining pace, industry making energy efficiency its top priority, and the long-awaited united customs area of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus appearing at last. Putin highlighted the Government's team spirit as the main driving force behind the success.
"We are working in adversity-but problems should not make us despondent. On the contrary, we should regard them as an invigorating challenge, and show our worth, efficiency, and professionalism. We'll break through if we work well," he concluded.
Pierre Sidibe
