Government plans to allocate $3.91bn for special federal programs in 2003

It is planned to allocate RUR123.5bn ($3.91bn) from the federal budget forspecial federal programs next year, a representative of the EconomicDevelopment and Trade Ministry told RBC. The representative pointed outthat it was planned to finance 47 special federal programs in 2003,addressing such issues as development of the infrastructure, assistance tothe new generation of Russians, the judicial reform, environmentprotection, development of the new economy and equality between regions. According to information from the Economic Development and Trade Ministry,47 special federal programs have been financed this year, compared to 136programs financed in 2001. At the same time, the amount of funds allocatedfor such programs this year exceeded last year's sum by over two times,reaching RUR130bn ($4.12bn). As for the implementation of special federalprograms, the representative of the ministry pointed out that reportsprovided by customers authorized by the government did not contain dataallowing for assessment of the efficiency of these programs. As it was reported earlier, the implementation of special federal programsin 2002 and proposals on the list of programs and the amount of theirfinancing for next year would be discussed at a Cabinet meeting tomorrow. .