Russian Prime Minister: Russia's State Finance is Now In Stable State

As Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said, the state finance of Russia "in the broad sense of this word is now in a stable state", the Premier said on Tuesday speaking at the meeting of the Russian government, at which the draft financial plan and the draft budget for the next three years are being considered.

According to him, due to this factor "we can already pursue a predictable policy for the medium-term perspective and forecast structural changes".

As the Premier stressed, the medium-term financial plan is "a new element of the budget policy, which has become possible after three years of the safe development of the Russian economy." He also noted that the question under consideration today will form the basis of concrete work to form the budgets of the years of 2004 and 2005. The priority budget expenditures will be determined in these document with due account for the aims set in the medium-term programme.