The development of the non-oil industry, thus freeing the economic growth of the country from the cost of a barrel of ‘black gold’, as well as the economic reforms that will improve the overall business climate in the country and will lead to the development of small and medium-sized businesses - are those measures, which, according to the associate professors of the Department of Stock Markets and Financial Engineering of RANHiGS, Sergey Hestanov and Vasiliy Yakimkin, must be carried out to run an errand of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the formulation of the specific objectives and optimization of the budget expenditures.
Recall that the head of state stated at the first Council on Strategic Development and National Projects that it is necessary to concentrate resources on important areas, to set specific targets and to optimize expenses on a limited budget.
"The idea is to concentrate resources on the most important directions of development, and there is a need for concrete definition of the development objectives in this regard", Putin said, adding that thе efficient management and industries, and the economy as a whole, and resources are the key task of the Council.
Speaking about the strategic priorities, Sergei Hestanov noted that the main task, which were announced decades ago, are carrying out the reforms and improvement of the business climate.
"Because, as experience has shown, unfortunately, the economic growth, which has been observed in Russia, was always associated with the rise in the oil prices. In other words, the price of oil rose -the Russian economy grew. The oil prices fell -the Russian economy dropped. We have already experienced several such peculiar economical swings. And the main task is to restructure the Russian economy, so if not completely eliminate the dependance on the oil prices, but at least weaken it significantly, " he explained.
The expert reminded that this is a very complex strategic challenge, posed by the Soviet leadership in the distant 1985. "Now the main problem lies in the fact that we need to improve our business climate not only in words, but in actions, to make our economy less dependent on oil and gas sector, as according to the official recent data, 37% of the federal budget filling are the proceeds of the oil and gas sector. And this is quite a lot, " the economist said.
In turn, Vasily Yakimkin singled out the necessity of ’getting rid of the oil needle" and development of a high-tech production among the strategic development objectives of the country.
‘’The most of our high-tech production is tied to the domestic consumption in the field of defense industry. It will be a breakthrough for the Russian economy, if the whole world begins to consume this ‘’military products’’. In addition, it is necessary to develop the most efficient segments of the economy that can give the maximum returns in a short period. This is small and medium business. We should light the green light for it by removing administrative barriers, "he said.
Considering possible options for optimization of the budget expenditures, the expert expressed the opinion that, in the first place, it is necessary to audit the most strategic objectives, for the realization of which the public money are sent.
"We need to raise the questions and see the problems, how much was spent and what was done and not done and why. Such an audit should be carried out every quarter or even every month, because such a practice, when there is the end of the year and appears that the allocated budget has not have been mastered, is unacceptable ", Vasily Yakimkin summed up.
