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
The Russian Government has taken its first step beyond just regulating the economy and towards systemic restrictions on state spending and direct support for industry. At the Government House yesterday, an inner cabinet meeting for the first time discussed a 15% cut in the approved tariff increases and a reduction in financing for special federal programmes by the same amount. A state commission was set up to distribute 625 billion roubles allocated as direct support between 300 strategic businesses, whose number was later to be raised to 1,500.
The Government is drawing up a list of companies in need of state support, as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a Government Presidium meeting. Qualifications have been determined. The list will have two parts, one for federal and one for regional aid-300 companies for the former and 1,200 for the latter. As the Government explains, the list is necessary to overcome the formidable barriers through which allocations must travel to reach industry. The companies on the list produce a summary 85% of the gross domestic product and are principal employers, so their survival will prevent skyrocketing unemployment. Experts forecast tough competition for a place on the list. The race will be all the closer as the Government promises to make it an open-end list with terms prolonged when necessary. Mr Putin might sign an initial version of the federal list by tomorrow.
The government has made quite a few decisions to support the banking sector, but it takes time for funds to reach industries, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lamented yesterday. To accelerate this process, it was decided to compile a list of major companies (accounting for 85% of the country's GDP) that are to be given "prime attention."
The Government may agree to increase VEB's capitalisation and guarantee its liabilities under an anti-crisis plan
Motorists in Russian cities staged mass actions yesterday to protest the rise of customs duties on imported used cars yesterday. In Novosibirsk protesters challenged Vladimir Putin, who raised the duties, to change from his government Mercedes to a Russian-made Volga. In Krasnoyarsk protesters advised him to "help the oligarchs out of his own pocket", while in Vladivostok several thousand demonstrators paralyzed traffic in the city for five hours demanding the resignation of Mr Putin's Government.
Moody's has revised the outlook from positive to stable on Russia's Baa1 sovereign rating and the ratings of eight state-controlled banks, which implies that their upgrade possibilities are tangibly reduced. Moody's will leave Russia's rating at no higher than Baa for the next 12 to 18 months. According to the agency, the Russian government spends too much from the country's reserves to support the rouble, which is an "ineffective policy."
At a meeting of the EurAsEC Interstate Heads of Government Council on Friday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of talks on giving Kyrgyzstan a loan of up to $2 billion to support the local economy. This is a huge sum, over 60% of the country's GDP. In the same address, Mr Putin spoke about the "reserved funds" to support the Russian banking system - 9 trillion roubles, 20.5% of the 2008 GDP, according to estimates made in September. 4 trillion roubles (9% of the GDP) have already been allocated. Earlier, Russia offered a $1 million loan to Belarus (another million is promised for the beginning of 2009), and began talks with Iceland about a loan of 4 billion euros.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is concerned about the growth of unemployment and does not see prospects for the better development of the situation.
The authorities have admitted that the Russian economy has gone into a recession. The one who had the courage to do so was Andrei Klepach, Deputy Economy Minister; higher-ranking officials are not yet daring to utter the word. Experts' forecasts are still gloomier than official ones: in 2009 they do not rule out negative growth in industry. A faulty anti-crisis policy, not the state of the world's economy, is to blame for this.
The Finance Ministry is ready to okay a proposal by Rosgosstrakh's private investors to issue new shares. The final say lies with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Finance Ministry will offer Putin two options for Rosgosstrakh, a ministry source told Vedomosti. According to the source, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin held a meeting last week to discuss the matter, at which it was decided to send the Prime Minister a memorandum describing the two choices.
At the end of last week, the Russian government raised duties on chicken and pork imports in 2009. Russian meat producers are satisfied with measures that restrict competition with cheaper meat imports. However, economists believe that in crisis conditions, the government must support ordinary consumers, whose diet depends on the prices of chicken imports. Experts propose price regulation for Russian meat-producing companies in order to prevent a surge in meat prices.
The Central Election Commission cited people awarded for contributing to the electoral system's development. To mark the 15th anniversary of Russia's electoral system, the Central Election Commission yesterday awarded President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin CEC commemorative badges signifying "those who have made a significant contribution to the development and functioning of Russia's electoral system." The list includes speakers from both houses of parliament, former and sitting deputies, and all prime ministers with the exception of Mikhail Kasyanov.
The decision to create the commission was adopted Wednesday. It will be composed of MPs, officials, managers and businessmen, including Alexander Abramov ("Evraz"), Andrei Borodin (the Bank of Moscow), Sergei Generalov ("Industrial Investors"), Anatoly Karachinsky (IBS) and David Yakobashvili ("Wimm-Bill-Dann"). (See the full list at www.vedomosti.ru) The commission will be headed by Alexander Shokhin, a member of the United Russia presidium and the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. The commission's members are not obliged to join United Russia.
No demand for the company's products, personnel on vacation, the working week cut down to three days, these are the typical symptoms of Russian companies damaged by the global economic crisis. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin not only makes out "prescriptions" from the Government House but pays visits to the "diseased" as well. Last week he visited the NPO Saturn and Avtodizel, the latter part of the GAZ Group. Last Thursday, he arrived in Rostov-on-Don to support a major farm equipment manufacturer, the Rostselmash plant.
A week has elapsed since Vladimir Putin's latest Q&A session. Though he has changed office from President to Prime Minister since the previous session of December 2007, the number of addresses has actually risen, according to the calculations of meticulous experts. Mr Putin set another record-the session lasted three hours and eight minutes, three minutes longer than in 2007, with 80 questions answered, as opposed to 72 in 2007. All told, there were 1,636,800 telephone calls and 642,000 SMS messages.
The call received by Prime Minister Putin from the mother of a six-year-old amputee stirred up all of Bashkiria. Ilvira Fayurshina from the village of Karmasan in the Ufa area complained that her adopted son Kostya Irayev, whose leg was amputated when he was three months old, was forced to endure annual examinations at a medical commission to confirm the physical disability.
Russian developers are sharply reducing construction and are renouncing new projects. This may jeopardize the high-priority Affordable Housing national project and prevent the Government from commissioning 80 million square metres of housing by 2010, as promised by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last year. Regional authorities say developers are no longer interested in available construction sites.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that a state commission will be created to work on the anti-recessionary programme and the analysis of economic and social developments in Russia. The new commission will be chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who has been meeting with businessmen for the last few months to involve them in anti-recessionary planning in accordance with the Prime Minister's order.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to cut migrant-worker quotas in 2009 by half. Instead of fulfilling this promise, the Government has halved possible reserve-quota increases or declines. Health and Social Development Minister Tatiana Golikova, rather than the Prime Minister, will decide whether to admit two million or six million migrants when the official quota is 3.97 million workers.
