Russian President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon dear ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for the warm welcome. For my part, I would like to thank you all for the attention you have devoted to today's meeting. As far as I know, a record number of journalists have been accredited to cover today's event. I hope that it will prove useful for us all. In any case, I shall try to be as forthcoming as possible and answer all the questions that interest you.
It would seem natural to begin our meeting today with the Russian Federation's economic results, with our perception of our social and economic policies in 2005 and what we have achieved in 2005.
I should tell you at once that, as a whole, we are satisfied with the results of our work in 2005. I shall begin with general economic indicators which, in general, are well-known. Perhaps I am repeating myself, but nevertheless I would still like to list them. GDP (gross domestic product) growth was 6,4 percent. It is possible that this figure shall be slightly adjusted, but it shall not change significantly. We shall have the final figure sometime in March, but today we already more or less know the figure. This is quite good, especially since we had originally planned for growth of 5,9 percent. The Russian stock market grew significantly in 2005.
Of course, all markets we refer to as developing markets grew. In Europe this includes Poland and Hungary, in Latin America it includes Argentina and Brazil, and in Asia it includes South Korea, one of the leaders in market capitalization. But even when we compare ourselves with the leaders, or a leader like South Korea where growth was around 54 percent, then we have 88 percent, an absolute record both for the world and for our country.
Naturally the growth of the Central Bank's gold and currency reserves was significant, simply a record. Let me remind you that in 2000 we started with 12 billion, today this already amounts to 185 billion and by the end of last year it was some 182 billion. The Government's Stabilization Fund also grew. And this has consequences for society at large: the average salary in the country grew by 9,8 percent, on average the population's income grew by 8,7 percent, and pensions grew by 13 percent, a significant increase. The incomes of our veterans have also significantly increased, both those of the participants in the Great Patriotic War and other similar groups.
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