Pres aide: Govt works on higher healthcare, education spending

MOSCOW, Jan 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is working to change the budget to increase healthcare, education and infrastructure spending to 1.5–2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by reducing other spending and through possible tax reforms, presidential aide Andrei Belousov told reporters on Tuesday.

“Various options of the budget maneuver are being worked on, many of them include cutting spending as share of the GDP,” Belousov said. “Tax optimization is considered. There are no solutions, various scenarios.”

Business daily Vedomosti reported on Monday that the government is looking for ways to raise spending on education, healthcare and infrastructure after March presidential elections at an unofficial request by President Vladimir Putin. Military spending will not be cut.

Belousov said that the calculations made by the Center for Strategic Research and the presidential administration are similar.

According to Vedomosti, Alexei Kudrin, former finance minister and chairman of the Center for Strategic Research board, offered to finance the higher spending by easing the budget rule with the oil price threshold for reserves rising to U.S. $45 per barrel from $40.

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