Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

Tatyana Golikova: Good afternoon.

Vladimir Putin: We have lately made some serious decisions to support various sectors of the Russian economy. They have to do with the banking sphere and the so-called real economy, that is, real production: agriculture, machine-building, and the defence industry. These are very important decisions because they are aimed at keeping the Russian economy viable, preserving the bank savings of our citizens, and ensuring their right to freely dispose of their assets.

Unfortunately, that does not apply to everyone; there is a large body of the Russian population that is in a difficult situation and does not yet feel that the state supports them. That is issue number one. Number two: there are many Russian people whose life and often health depend on the functioning of the social system, the system of social support. That is why I suggest that we discuss these problems today.

The first topic is regional employment programmes. I issued instructions to develop such programmes early in the year. I am aware that this work has been completed in 72 regions. They will get 21.8 billion roubles in funding, out of the total 43.7 billion. Fifteen programmes have been approved and 3 of them have already been signed. They are Yaroslavl, the Kirov Region, and Kransoyarsk.

The Yaroslavl region offers an example of a diversified programme. 3.500 people are to be sent for retraining. Several hundred people can move to a new place where they will live and have temporary employment, but they will be entitled to benefits. And another 22,000 people will be sent to a place of temporary work, where temporary jobs will be created for them. That is in the Yaroslavl region alone.

My question is, why haven't all the regions submitted such programmes, considering that 95% of the funding under these programmes will come from the federal budget?

Tatyana Golikova: Yes, that is correct. We are in fact summing up the tentative results of the implementation of the Decree you signed on December 31, 2008, which allocated 43.7 billion roubles to the regions to prepare and implement regional programmes.

It is obvious now that the first installment of the money - you have mentioned it - covers 72 regions, that is, the majority of the regions, and is estimated at 22 billion roubles - but that is the first stage. That is how we see it, and we consider that all the measures that these 22 billion roubles will finance allow us to help the regions, namely those people who will benefit from these elements of the programmes during its first stage.

That there are only 72 regions is due to various reasons, but there are two main reasons. First: the Russian regions are assessing the potential of their own budgets and although 5% is not a lot of funding, many regions have to review their priorities and redirect part of their budgets to implement these programmes.

Second: not all the Russian regions are so badly off as to need help in the first months of 2009.

Only 15 of the 72 programmes have been approved, due to the fact that some regions of the Russian Federation have not even met the 5% financing target, forcing us to send their programmes back to them for reworking. That does not mean that the programmes will not be fulfilled; they will finalize these programmes in short order.

The second mandatory requirement, which is probably even more important than financing, is that we disperse money not simply to retrain, to create temporary jobs, or help people move inside or out of the region. We tailor these projects to the concrete enterprises where they have problems with lay-offs or impending lay-offs, or forced idleness and the short working week. These people are being retrained in order to be employed at the same enterprises. Few people move between enterprises. I hope that when considering the proposals we have been receiving from the Russian regions, we will be able to sign agreements and start financing the 15 programmes that have been approved, and not only Yaroslavl, which we have already done. This week, Yaroslavl received 40% of the targeted funding out of the budget - that is, 510 million roubles. We disperse 40% as an advance, and after a certain period we will verify what they have actually done before remitting the remaining sum. I think that the entirety of the work for all the regions will be completed by the end of February.

Vladimir Putin: I want to ask something of you: if you see that some Russian regions are not coping with this work or are delinquent in doing it, please let me know as soon as possible. We will meet with the heads of these regions here in Moscow. Likewise, in regions where you observe good cooperation and performance of the task, let us go there and see how it works on the ground.

Tatyana Golikova: Very well.

Vladimir Putin: That was the first point. Secondly, let us discuss in more detail the development, support, and the plans to improve the pension system.

Beginning on March 1 of this year, we will increase the basic part of the pension by 8.7%, followed by the insurance part of the pension, by 15.2%, as of April 1. However, because the Pension Fund did some good work last year, its revenues increased more than planned. This means that we can increase the insurance part of the pension not by 15.2%, but by more, as of April 1 this year. How much more?

Tatyana Golikova: Yes, we do have such plans. We are completing the calculations now that the data for 2008 are in. Basically, in spite of some problems that arose at the end of 2008 and a drop in incomes in the final months of 2008, the revenue targets have been exceeded and we are in a position to index the insurance part of the pension by a larger percentage. It will be increased to match the growth rate of Pension Fund incomes in 2008. According to preliminary estimates, the insurance part of the pension will be increased not by 15.2%, as stipulated in the budget, but by 17.5%.

Vladimir Putin: So, starting March 1 of this year the basic part of the pension will increase by 8.7%.

Tatyana Golikova: Yes, the law to the effect has already been passed.

Vladimir Putin: And the insurance part of the pension will be increased not by 15.2%, but by 17.5% beginning from April 1.

By December 1, 2009, we should bring the average size of the social pension to the subsistence minimum for pensioners. This is built into our budget and the corresponding laws. This means that starting from December 1 of this year, we should have raised the basic part of the pension by another 26.5%, but we know that inflation this year may turn out to be higher than envisaged in our budget. Thus, in order to fulfill the task we have set for ourselves, we should increase the basic part of the pension not by 26.5%, but by more. That means that we should make timely amendments to our budget.

Tatyana Golikova: That's right. We are doing these calculations along with updating our forecasts and I am not ruling out - it may be too early yet to name the figure - that the increase may be raised to 30%. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that if inflation exceeds the targeted level, we will have to increase the insurance part of the pension again starting August 1, 2009.

Vladimir Putin: I would like to go back to December 1. A 26.5% increase is already in the budget. If inflation is higher, the increase may be by about 30%, but we should look together at the real state of affairs and raise it by as much as is necessary so that the average size of the social pension is not less than the living minimum of a pensioner. This is the challenge facing us, and we must meet it.

And finally, the same is true for allowances and lump-sum payments. Their size should depend on inflation, and if inflation turns out to be higher than envisaged by the budget we will have to review them. Please bear it in mind and make timely changes to the budget.

Tatyana Golikova: Yes, all the benefits that are related to inflation, the lump-sum payments adjusted under the law on the budget and on inflation, if that indicator changes, will be changed accordingly. We are working on these corrections jointly with the Finance Ministry.

Vladimir Putin: Very well, thank you.