Opening remarks by Vladimir Putin:
Good afternoon, colleagues,
Today we will discuss proposed amendments to the Budget Code. The effective law was certainly shaped under very different conditions - those in 2003-2007. Our goal then was to save the super profits gained thanks to a favourable situation on foreign markets. We have successfully met that goal. Overall, we have accumulated over 8 trillion roubles, a fund that backs today's anti-crisis policies amid an extremely tight global financial and economic situation.
We are now facing a very different situation. We need to make certain adjustments to the Budget Code to be able to finance the budget deficit from the Reserve Fund. We'll also need to establish a procedure for using these reserves.
We'll discuss and take into account the needs of Russia's constituent regions, change the support schemes, give them more freedom in handling their municipal finances, and authorise regional governments to provide prompt support to municipal budgets.
These measures will certainly be applied temporarily. I am referring to the need to support macroeconomic stability and confidence in our financial and economic policies. We have to set some clear objectives to reduce the budget deficit in 2010 and later years.
Let's get down to business.