Cash guarantees: Dmitry Medvedev instructed to create a new financial management system in Russia

The Russian government will prepare a new public finance management system. This was announced on Thursday, September 12, by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a speech at the Moscow Financial Forum. According to him, by October 1, the corresponding concept will have to be submitted by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development.

As the head of government explained, the project is aimed at supporting investors and entrepreneurs and will have to increase private investment in the Russian economy. So, the new system involves the termination of the old regulatory acts in the field of control and supervision. In this case, the founders of large investment projects will be provided with special conditions and state guarantees.

“I hope that in the near future the document will be finalized, agreed upon, and we will submit it to the State Duma. According to optimistic estimates, and we are always optimistic on this topic, it will allow us to accumulate investments from around 20 trillion rubles, including in national projects, ”Medvedev said at a plenary session of the forum.

During the discussion, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov recalled that in the framework of national projects, the volume of investment in the Russian economy should grow to 25% of GDP. According to him, today the indicator is close to 20-21%.

At the same time, Dmitry Medvedev pointed out the continuing interest of foreign investors in the Russian market. So, over the past few years, Russia has already managed to significantly strengthen the financial system. This is largely due to a decrease in dependence on oil prices.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the Russian economy can remain stable for several years even if oil prices fall to $ 30 per barrel or lower. About this on the sidelines of the forum in an interview with RT told the deputy head of the department Vladimir Kolychev.

“Over the past few years, we have accumulated liquid reserves of almost 7% of GDP. This means that for three to five years a country can live without consequences for the economy with oil prices and $ 30 per barrel. If the oil shock is more short-term, then we will survive the fall in oil prices below this level without any significant negative effects, ”Kolychev explained.

The second key factor in financial stability, Dmitry Medvedev called moderate inflation. According to the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, by the end of 2019, the price growth index in the country should fall below the target level of the Central Bank (4%) and amount to about 3.6-3.8%. As the prime minister explained, the emerging slowdown in inflation allowed a record reduction in the Central Bank rate.

Since the beginning of 2019, the Bank of Russia has lowered its key rate by 0.25 percentage points to 7% per annum. The value has become the lowest in the last five years. Recall that reducing the rate is necessary to stimulate business activity in the country and economic growth in general. So, in the long run, the actions of monetary authorities lead to cheaper loans, an increase in domestic demand and investment.

Although the decisions of the Bank of Russia made it possible to ensure financial stability, the policy of the regulator does not yet allow to significantly accelerate economic growth in the country. This was during a discussion at the plenary session of the forum said the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina.

“In our opinion, low rates of economic growth in our country are caused, first of all, by structural factors, and here monetary policy is practically powerless,” Nabiullina said.

One of the factors Nabiullina called the intensification of trade wars and the general slowdown in the global economy. According to her, in the current conditions, the regulator will exercise caution and will not sharply reduce the interest rate. Such a strategy will provide predictable conditions in the Russian market and investor confidence.

Note that in the context of the global economic slowdown, the Russian authorities are still counting on reaching the growth rate of Russia's GDP above the world average. According to the Ministry of Economic Development, in 2019 the country's economy will grow by 1.3%, in 2020 - by 1.7%, and in 2021 it will accelerate to 3.1%. At the same time, the head of the ministry, Maxim Oreshkin, announced the possibility of an increase of 2.1% in 2020.

In the coming years, one of the key tasks to strengthen the financial stability of the country should be the gradual abandonment of the dollar, said VTB Head Andrei Kostin.

“I would only add to the financial stability the process of de-dollarization, which is actually going on, and this is clear. From the experience of 2008, I can say that such involvement in the dollar zone of our country then had disastrous consequences. Now the situation has changed significantly, ”Kostin said during his speech at the forum.

According to the Central Bank, in 2018 Russia halved the share of the US dollar in its international reserves - from 45.8% to 22.7%. At the same time, the share of the euro in the country's foreign exchange reserves increased almost one and a half times - from 21.7% to 31.7%, and the Chinese yuan - five times, from 2.8% to 14.2%.