Budget spending should be tied to financial risks - Medvedev
MOSCOW. June 25. (Interfax) - Spending must be linked with financial risks in the 2013-2015 budget, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting of the government commission for budget projections.
"In the next few years, we will in all likelihood have to work in very complicated conditions - an unstable situation on international financial markets, fluctuation in oil prices. All of these factors will have the most significant impact on the conditions of our country's development," he said.
"This is why we need to align spending with financial risks and, of course, take into account a decline in the revenue part of the budget after Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We need to clearly distinguish priority areas of financing, consolidate revenues from the commodity sector in the Reserve Fund, and strive to lower the level of the so-called non-oil and gas deficit," Medvedev said.
Most desirably, these tasks should be fulfilled by raising the efficiency of public spending and by transitioning to a target program format for the federal budget, he said.
"The budget should be balanced and realistic. It should stimulate domestic and foreign business," Medvedev said.
The future budget should correspond to medium-term and long-term plans and be "a budget of modernization," he said.
However, all social obligations, including spending on education and public health, as well as support for mothers, families and children, should be executed faithfully, he said.
"That is our social priority. Everything that determines people's quality of life is not subject to revision," Medvedev concluded.
