Komsomolskaya Pravda: “Putin knows how to prevent drop in oil prices”
And how to prevent a decline in population.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a meeting on Russia's socio-economic strategy until 2020 in his residence in Novo Ogaryovo yesterday. He discussed new tactics as opposed to adjustments for the crisis. A decision had to be reached concerning the national budget for the next few years.
"In choosing any option, we must proceed from the unconditional implementation of our social commitments to the people," Putin said, prioritising the issue.
He also touched upon such a sensitive problem as the labour market.
"It's improving," the prime minister said. "We've created about 1.4 million jobs. We need to pay more attention to labour productivity growth and training modern personnel."
He added that a well-balanced approach to migration policy must be adopted.
"The economy needs labour force, but this shouldn't provoke social tensions," Putin said.
The prime minister also commented on the recent census.
"We see our population has declined, but we also know our demographic policy has produced positive results. At any rate, the general trend is good. If we hadn't conducted intensive demographic work in the past five years, the results would have been disastrous. But even despite our efforts, the population has declined. So, we need to step up."
Vladimir Mau, the rector of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Government Service, then took the floor. He recalled how oil prices dropped in the 1970s in the Soviet Union and asked Putin whether this could happen again.
"This threat could arise if we think we'll forever enjoy this bliss (the current oil prices – A.G.)," Putin said. "But if we face reality ... if we don't take excessive commitments, and we counter inflation and the deficit, we won't experience the adverse developments we did in the Soviet Union after the 1970s."
Meanwhile, Sergei Prikhodko, the head of the Central Bank, expressed his thoughts on reducing inflation.
"We plan to reduce inflation to 6%-7% in 2011," he said. "Our goal for the next year is to reduce inflation to 5%-6%. In the future, it will drop to 3%-5%."
The country's chief banker also shared his dream with the audience for the coming decade.
"I think the budget deficit should be zero for our plans for the decade ahead," he said. "We'll have more resources and opportunities. We shouldn't have a deficit".
Alexander Gamov
