MOSCOW, July 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s government has endorsed basic guidelines of the budgetary policy and key budget parameters for the period from 2014 to 2016, Russian Minister of Labor Maxim Topilin told journalists after a government meeting on Thursday.
“Key parameters have been approved in principle and we shall continue to work on all outstanding questions the ministries and agencies might still have,” he said.
According to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, key budgetary parameters are determined by the budgetary message of the president, socio-economic forecasts for a period up to 2030 and key guidelines of the government’s work till the year 2018. Medvedev noted that the priorities remain the same - to fulfill social liabilities of the state, to achieve lasting stability of the pension system, to implement large-scale projects, including infrastructure ones, and to ensure efficient management of state financial resources.
The Russian prime minister drew attention to the characteristics of the new budgetary cycle. “Macroeconomic indices underlying the current budget differ from those used last year and, regrettably, not for the better,” Medvedev said. “It stems from a worse economic situation.” In his words, serious risks are present not only now but in the medium-term perspective as well. “And we must take into account this objective limitations,” he noted. First of all, he noted, it refers to the forecasts of the budget’s revenues. “If the budget deficit overgrows the forecasts we are oriented now, it will be necessary to find sources to cover this deficit,” Medvedev said and added that the government must see to it that the debt is within the economically safe level.