Federal Budgetary Assignments For 2001 To Be Fulfilled With A Surplus

According to preliminary estimates, the federal budget surplus (revenue exceeds expenditure) this year will amount to 254 billion rubles ($1 equals 30.20 rubles). Speaking at the government session Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin stated that the federal budget revenues this year will amount to 1,541.3 billion rubles and expenditures - 1,287 billion rubles. Alexei Kudrin also said that in 2001 the government managed to collect extra revenues, of which 123 billion rubles have been already distributed. National Defence and Education items were given the largest support, expenditures on them grew by 22 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively. As many as 224 billion rubles were spent this year to redeem foreign debt and 92 billion rubles to redeem domestic debt. In 2001, Russia reached the European community's standards on the above indicators and, as a result, the world agencies upgraded Russia's credit rating, the vice-premier said.