Russian president explains falling output with market conditions

(Interfax – Vologda, 7 March, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised that the nomination of the new head of the central bank will be a surprise for everyone.

“It will be unexpected and you will like it,” Putin said when answering questions from journalists in Vologda.

When answering a question about the reasons for the fall in output in January, Putin announced that this was first of all caused by the global market conditions. “We saw the beginning of this in some our leading partner countries and later it arrived in Russia,” the president said.

“We expect that the support measures that the government is currently working on, a quite consistent course focusing at the demands of the market, at taking into account these demands, of both domestic and global market, will play their role, after all,” Putin announced.

In addition to this, the president recalled that a decision had been taken to grant the government a number of powers, including financial resources, which could be deployed in the event of the worsening of the situation on the world markets, “contraction of our traditional markets, and would develop a number of other measures aimed at supporting our economy”.

“They have been prepared and can be activated in the event of necessity,” Putin said.

When answering a question about the role of the Central Bank’s refinancing rate, Putin said: “You realize that the Central Bank’s base rate is only a benchmark and, of course, we must urge all economic structures of the state to facilitating economic growth”. Along with this he announced that the state has its own tasks and when urging the Central Bank to engage in joint work of this kind, “we must not overload it with functions that are not appropriate for it”.