MOSCOW, April 8 (Itar-Tass) - Tough observance of the budget rule is the necessary precondition of macroeconomic stability, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at an enlarged meeting of the Finance Ministry board on Monday.
He noted that the budgetary system can be made balanced only through the introduction of the budget rule, which makes the parameters of the budgetary policy independent from current fluctuations of the oil prices and protects the economy for external shocks.
“Despite the fact that everybody criticises the budget rule, naturally, few people can like it, however, tough observance of these rules is the necessary precondition for budgetary, and consequently macroeconomic stability,” the prime minister noted, adding that in this case the development and a steady economic growth are possible.
In his view, current events in Europe showed once again that the budget expenditures and the budget consolidation problems should be taken very carefully.
Medvedev noted the efficiency of the use of the budget resources. “This year the Finance Ministry should pass to a full-fledged budget planning and should develop a long-term budget strategy. The requirements to the state-funded programs should be specified as well,” he recalled. “We should give up, in any case for the near future, using a supposition in our arguments, as the ministries do so sometimes, that we can fulfil a basic variant of the program only with additional financing provided,” Medvedev noted.
The prime minister noted that “the main parameters of the state program should be fulfilled thanks to the funding that is basic.”