Russian Prime Minister satisfied with Q1 budget administration

The federal budget revenues in the first quarter of 2003 enabled the government to meet all scheduled expenditure targets, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told a government session this Thursday.

According to Kasyanov, "this is a fairly good result, considering the fact that the first quarter witnessed a seasonal imbalance between revenues and expenditures." At the same time, the Premier pointed to a negative aspect, namely, the uneven distribution of tax revenues, in particular, in the sphere of excise duties on oil and oil products.

The Russian Premier also noted that the balance of budget recipients' accounts amounted to 70 billion rubles (about 2 billion euros) of unspent funds. "This is a serious problem, which makes the government conclude that not all the budget expenditures are top priority items," Kasyanov said.

At the same time, according to him, it is necessary to analyze again "the need of the allocation of funds to particular budget recipients" before taking specific decisions.