Over $3.8bn to be allocated for federal task programs in 2003

Over RUR120bn (around $3.8bn) will be allocated for financing federal taskprograms from the federal budget next year, German Gref, Russian Ministerof Economic Development and Trade, said after today's government meeting.The Economy Minister was quoted as saying the Russian government approvedon the whole the list and the volume of financing federal task programs forthe next year. He pointed out "there are questions only concerning theprograms that are not approved and need to be further developed ". According to Gref, four programs were added to the major list: 'The StateFrontiers', 'The Children of Russia', 'The Social Development of RuralAreas' and 'The Social and Economic Development of the Republic ofBashkirtostan'. Speaking about the problems of implementing federal taskprograms, the Russian Economy Minister emphasized that "it is necessary tocomplete the development of efficiency evaluation systems for theseprograms".