PM: intensive application of programmatic principle in budget implementation hasn't begun yet
GORKI . April 12 (Interfax) - Intensive application of the programmatic principle of budget implementation hasn't begun yet, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in opening remarks at a meeting on the issue of the approach to work with state programs of the Russian Federation in 2016.
"This is not the first year that the programmatic principle for drawing up and implementing the budget has been in effect. It is precisely the state programs that are the basis for drawing up the budget although, let's say straight out, we cannot say that intensive application of this principle has begun and is bringing any colossal, serious advantages in this sense," he said.
"Nonetheless, this path must be followed all the same. Today we are taking the next step in improving the mechanism for implementing state programs. At present the challenge is to raise the effectiveness of state spending: it has always existed, but of course today it is an especially urgent topic," Medvedev said.
"Economizing resources never bothers anyone. Budget policy must be, as in all recent years, moderately conservative. Alongside a reaction to external challenges, it is necessary to resolve a whole host of complex tasks: keeping the budget deficit within the bounds we have set for ourselves, that is, within acceptable bounds, and achieving a reduction in inflation, for the sake of reducing loan interest rates among other things, and also to support positive processes in key economic sectors," Medvedev said at a meeting of the government commission on information technologies.
All of this must take place given the unconditional fulfillment of those social obligations that the government takes upon itself. For this reason the budget must be maximally balanced and work with its spending side must be singularly precise, he said.
