Putin defends Siluanov in Federation Council
MOSCOW. June 27 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken in support of Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who was criticized by senators during a meeting with the president on Friday.
Responding to reproaches made about Siluanov, stating that he does not back metro construction in the regions, Putin said: "The finance minister should be greedy and thrifty. Our minister meets these criteria."
"Essentially, he is right, but the federation should take care about the development of the metropolitan because the regions are unable to resolve this problem on their own. At the same time, we need to remember that the federation's finances are not unlimited," Putin said.
Putin said there is a need to think about what expenditures should be reduced to provide funding for the metro or increase the budget deficit, reiterating that the latter option "does not suit us."
The president said Russia had a small budget surplus, along with Saudi Arabia and South Korea, adding that the other countries' budgets had deficits. "We decided that we can allow a small deficit, up to 1.5%, or we will have to take on debt," he said.
The president said the budget deficit negatively impacts the banking system, which begins to refinance the state debt "and then everything starts to die quietly."
"This scenario is unacceptable to us," Putin said.
Putin said the development of the metro is necessitated by rapid development of cities, proposing to stimulate people to move to smaller cities, as a result of which the money that could have been spent on metro construction could be used for the development of underdeveloped cities. The president suggested that the Federation Council think about helping territories with their development.