PM comments on level of investments in Russian economy

The low level of investments in the Russian economy is the major factor hampering the economic growth of the country, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated. He pointed out at the opening of a meeting of the Entrepreneurship Council under the Russian government that the participants of the meeting would discuss main problems impeding business activity in Russia.

According to Kasyanov, the level of investments is lower this year than in 2001. The investment growth was 2.5 percent in the first nine months of 2002. The financial sector of the economy does not provide an inflow of capital from the raw material industry so far, the Prime Minister pointed out. According to him, over a half of the GDP growth will be in raw material industries this year.

Thus, the weak development of the financial sector is "a bottleneck"; in connection with this, it is necessary to take a number of measures, Kasyanov stated. At the same time, he pointed out that in the near future, it is planned to discuss the problems of the stock market at one of the government's meeting. According to Kasyanov, due to this, he would like to discuss with businessmen the "sore" spots in this field at today's meeting.