Putin: Russia’s budget must respond to global risks

Russia’s budget for the next three years must take into account all global economic risks while meeting all social obligations to Russian citizens, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. “All of us know what has been going on in well-to-do developed countries, including the European states lately. There has not been a spending increase on a single budget item there and we can see only the so-called budget consolidation there and a reduction of all social expenditures and an increase in the pension age,” Putin said at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Putin referred to Spain, where anti-austerity protests turned violent last night. “We must bear this in mind, and take into account all the risks posed to our economy by the condition of the global and European economies. We must do everything to fulfil social obligations to citizens,” Putin said. A draft federal budget for 2013-2015 will be submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, in the next two days for discussion, Medvedev said. ‘The government has finished its work and virtually in the next one or two days the budget will be finalized and submitted to the State Duma,” Medvedev said.