Tuesday, 30 Dec, 2008 Politics

Russian government decided to allocate 10 trillion rubles ($340 billion) to deal with the consequences of the global economic crisis. According to officials, companies activating in different fields, including transportation and communication, as well as 295 oil and gas companies in Russia will benefit from the allocated package.

It is worth mentioning that the amount of money, allocated to deal with the repercussions of the global economic crisis, is close to the annual budget of Russian Federation and is two times more than the country's reserves.

According to Alexei Kudrin, Russian Finance Minister, Moscow would face a deficit that would rang between $52 billion and $87 billion, which is about 6 percent of its gross domestic product.

In a statement Mr. Kudrin outlined that the federal budget, the Central Bank and reserve funds will provide the necessary amount of money. On December 29, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin noted that the Russian government decided to reduce gold and currency reserves in order to avoid a quick fall of the national currency - ruble. He predicted that the rate of inflation in the country in 2009 will be around 13.5 percent.