The president and the prime minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, plan to hold a meeting to discuss the prospects of the Russian economy, given the global negative trends in the world market. The meeting will be attended by the representatives of the economic bloc of the government, members of the Kremlin administration and experts on economic issues. The decision to hold the meeting was taken in light of the deteriorating economic forecasts for the current and coming years presented last week by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
At today's meeting Medvedev told the president that he had ordered the government to prepare with the help of experts a set of measures to stimulate the economy. He then proposed to "meet and talk in general about the development of the Russian economy in the short term, given the current trends." In response, the President proposed to hold a special meeting, to "invite the economic bloc of the government, part of the presidential administration that address relevant topics, and perhaps representatives of the expert community, to listen to different points of view and find the best options."
Medvedev is to report on Wednesday to the State Duma about the work of the government and, taking into account the unfavorable forecast of the MED, approval of the prime minister's report may meet some difficulty in the Parliament. Putin expressed hope that Medvedev's speech would be successful. "I hope you will be able to reach a consensus in the Duma. Of course, there are different views, different approaches to economic development and social services, but I am confident that the government will be able, based on the majority in the Duma, to find optimal solutions," RIA News quotes Putin.
Medvedev, for his part, assured the president that there are positive trends in the current state of the Russian economy, noting that "there are a number of favorable positions and we need to use them."
MED lowered the GDP growth forecast for 2013 from 3.6% to 2.4%, and forecasts for industrial production - from 3.6% to 2%, fixed capital investment - from 6.5% to 4.6 %. Given these numbers, the head of the Ministry for Economic Development, Andrei Belousov, said that if the government does not take measures to stimulate the economy, it may enter into a recession by the autumn of this year.
