Vladimir Putin on social projects
Pensions will be increased four times this year. The miners of Kuzbass, which the Prime Minister visited last week, were the first to learn the details.
Governor Aman Tuleyev welcomed Vladimir Putin as he was coming out of the plane and accompanied him to a coalmine, one of the best in the region. The Polosukhinskaya Mine in Novokuznetsk is a socially oriented enterprise, where workers earn more than 36,000 roubles a month.
Although there have been no layoffs or wage cuts at the mine, workers are still concerned with falling production.
"You export 65% of your industrial output. This means that our economy has become part of the global economy," Mr Putin said. "And so, our economy depends on events in the global economy. ... The crisis will continue to develop in 2009, thereby limiting the demand for the products we produce."
What should the government do in this situation?
"The main objective of the state is to ensure the implementation of its social commitments," Mr Putin said. "I am referring to the payment of pensions and wages in the public sector ... and allowances, as well as assistance to economic growth and an increase in the consumer demand and the demand in the industries."
The Prime Minister said that pensions would be increased four times in 2009 instead of the planned three times (see the Table for details).
"We have agreed with the governors and other regional leaders that each member of the Federation will set up headquarters that will address employment issues," Mr Putin said. They will tackle the "retraining of professionals and creation of temporary jobs, the so-called social jobs. These cannot become permanent jobs, but it will allow the people to earn some money for the family."
He said that 2009 would be a difficult year, and then added: "Russia has not curtailed its social commitments, but is rather expanding them. ... Of all the industrialised countries, Japan is investing the most in its anti-crisis actions, approximately 2% of its GDP. The Russian Government has approved measures worth some 4.5% of its GDP. Taken together with the efforts of the Central Bank, which is trying to maintain liquidity in the banking sector, the anti-crisis package amounts to nearly 12% of GDP."
"We have not curtailed any of the approved programmes; what's more, we have even increased them," the Prime Minister said.
Nationwide issue
Igor Leonidov