30 Mar 2011 16:45

Medvedev orders possible insurance-fee reduction proposals by June 1

MAGNITOGORSK. March 30 (Interfax) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he thinks that insurance fees of 34% "could prove crippling for many kinds of operations."

"I am instructing the government to prepare, by June 1, proposals for a possible mechanism for lowering mandatory insurance payments starting on January 1, 2012," Medvedev said at a modernization committee meeting in Magnitogorsk.

For this to happen, spending on government procurements will have to be reduced and the scale of insurance contributions altered at the very least, he said.

"Ideally, of course, the top rate should be set somewhere close to the previous rates, but this won't be easy," he said.