MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian
government has instructed ministries to cut spending by another
15% on top of the 15% budget cuts approved late last year, a
business paper reported on Monday.
Budget cuts will affect all budget fund recipients, except
courts. The biggest cut will hit the Energy Ministry (33%) and
the Transport Ministry (30%), while the least affected will be
the Education Ministry (11%), the State Duma (12%) and the
Foreign Ministry (12%), Vedomosti reported, referring to
officials from several ministries.
The figure for each ministry depends on the number of
protected budget spending items, such as wages, stipends, other
social obligations, debt service, and also expenditures on the
2014 Winter Olympic Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi and
the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in
Vladivostok in Russia's Far East in 2012, the paper reported.
The budget sequester will enable the government to save
1.5 trillion rubles ($43 billion), bringing the total budget
reduction figure to 17%, as only unprotected budget items were
cut by 15% in both cases, Yelena Lebedinskaya from the Economic
Expert Group told Vedomosti.
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