Government To Consider Two-Year Plan For Economic Modernization

At the end of January the government will review a plan for measures to modernize the economy and to develop the social sector for the next two years. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov announced this information at the opening of the first meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers this year. At the same time, he pointed out that the schedule for the government's work in the first quarter of 2002 is "quite tight." According to Kasyanov, the Cabinet traditionally has to return to the question of working out measures to support the macroeconomic stability of the country at the beginning of the year, so that "more room for resolving other crucial problems and the implementation of structural reform would appear." The Prime Minister added that the stability of tax revenues is the basis for any other efforts. Additionally, the concept for development of such major industries as the wood and car industries is to be worked out in the first quarter, and the energy strategy is to be corrected, Kasyanov remarked.