Valentina Matviyenko Says That Inflation In Russia In 2001 Will Not Top Eighteen Percent

According to the forecasts of the government of the Russian Federation, inflation in Russia in 2001 will not top eighteen percent. As RIA Novosti correspondent reports, this statement was made on Wednesday by vice chairman of the government Valentina Matviyenko in opening the meeting with Austrian Minister of Economic Affairs Martin Bartenstein. According to the Vice Prime Minister, the surplus of the federal budget since the beginning of the year will amount to 158.1 billion roubles, or 3.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This makes it possible to soften the pressure on the economy, apart from timely servicing the state debt. Valentina Matviyenko underscored that the increase in Russia's credit rating in June 2001 to the B level, as was admitted by the Standard and Poor's Agency, one of the three leading rating agencies in the world, shows that the investment business climate has improved in Russia. She also noticed that in the first half of 2001 the accumulated foreign capital amounted to 33.8 billion dollars. The dynamics of foreign investments in the non-financial sector of the economy is also reassuring. In the first half of 2001 as many as 6.4 billion dollars were invested in Russia, that is, nearly forty percent more than in the same period of 2000.