Putin, Medvedev agree to meet to discuss prospects of Russian economy amid world crisis

(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to have a special meeting with the economic block of the government, members of the Kremlin administration and experts to discuss prospects of the Russian economy amid the global negative tendencies on the world market.

Medvedev said at a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin on Monday that he had ordered the government “to involve experts to prepare offers related to how we are to resist this international trend and to try to give additional impulses to the development of the Russian economy.”

Medvedev told Putin they should “meet and talk in general about the development of the Russian economy in the short term taking into account the formed trends.”

“Maybe let’s do this in the field, we will invite the economic block of the government, a part of the presidential administration, which is responsible for the relevant subject, and maybe experts to listen to different points of view and to find optimal variants,” Putin said.

The Russian president said at the meeting that “the global crisis is taking a more and more dangerous shape, which inevitably effects us.”

“This is how it was in 2008 and now we are witnessing the same. Though, unlike our friends and partners in Europe and other world regions, the Russian economy is showing its vitality and opportunities of further growth,” Putin said.

At the same time, Putin said that in late 2012 – early 2013, “the speed of the economic growth decreased slightly and the real sector shrank even more.”

“This reflects on personal income, wages decreased, though total envisaged personal income remains within the forecast. The extractive industries began to restore as well, which is a good signal in general and for our country in particular,” Putin said.

The Russian president said that the year of 2012 “was not bad in general.” Putin said that Medvedev would report the 2012 government results on April 17. “I expect that you will manage to not only use all mechanisms to overcome the crisis, which were developed earlier, but to use newly created ones to support sprouts, which can be observed, in particular in the extractive sector, and to expand them throughout the economy,” the Russian president said.