MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. The combination of tough budget and soft monetary policy with low interest rates is ideal, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with the Expert news outlet".

"The ideal structure is the tough budget and the soft monetary policy with low interest rates. Such approach attributes flexibility to the economic policy. When inflation gears down and rates are at a low level already, the budget can be used as an additional incentive for the economy," the minister said.

The Bank of Russia should create the space for interest rates lowering and the approach of the Finance Ministry to the budgetary policy makes it possible to do so, Siluanov noted. "We have the tested formula underlying the fiscal rule: the structural deficit should be zero," he said.

The cost of credit resources, i.e. cheap and long-term money is more important for economic growth than the budget, the minister added.