Russian econ ministry suggests indexing railway freightage tariffs 6% in 2012 - Levitin
MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - Russia's Economic Development Ministry has submitted to the government proposals for the indexation of railway freightage tariffs by 6% in 2012.
"We have received the latest Russian Economic Development Ministry proposals, with 6% for railway hauling," Transport Minister Igor Levitin told the press on Monday.
The Transport Ministry insisted that those tariffs be increased to 7.4% for next year, Levitin said. "But the Economic Development Ministry stayed with 6%. There will be such an increase if it is confirmed at a meeting of the government," he said.
The ministry insists in any case that there be compensation for reduced revenues for Russian Railways (RZD) , Levitin said. The amount of that compensation will depend on the tariff-increase figure set by the government. "With tariffs increasing to the level of 7.4%, there will be compensation for OJSC RZD at the level of 40 billion rubles," he said.
As reported, the Economic Development Ministry was given until July 1 to submit an alternative version of its forecast that has tariff increases for the services of natural monopolies such as RZD pegged to inflation.