BARNAUL, July 15. /TASS/. Russia’s defense industry is demonstrating active growth dynamics, Military and Industrial Commission Board Deputy Head Oleg Bochkaryov said on Wednesday.
"While the industry is registering a decline in the current economic situation, the defense sector is demonstrating a growth of 10-15% and some enterprises that are speeding up their rearmament programs are expanding output by 130-50%," Bochkaryov said at a working meeting held with Altai Territory Governor Alexander Karlin.
Russia’s federal government is not reducing expenditures on the domestic defense and industrial sector and is complying with the obligations it assumed, the defense official said.
"We have a complex goal in the current economic conditions, in which the country is working: not to disrupt the tasks and deadlines for the development and delivery of military hardware to our armed forces and to ensure economically acceptable parameters," he added.
Russian Finance Ministry specialists announced in their report on July 10 that the share of expenses on defense in Russia was higher than on average in member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). This share is over 4% of GDP compared with about 1-2% of GDP for both groups of countries.
The share of Russia’s expenses on defense, security, social policy and debt service may rise from 60% in 2014 to 72% in 2018.
