State Duma speaker says draft 2021–2023 budget mostly approved

MOSCOW, Oct 26 (PRIME) -- The government and State Duma debates on the 2021–2023 draft budget were heated because each of the factions had its own point of view but the draft is mostly approved, Speaker of the State Duma, parliament's lower chamber, Vyacheslav Volodin, told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Monday.

"I want to emphasize that the negotiations were not easy, and I think that they will not be easy today as well because each faction has its own position on the approaches, priorities but we can say that in general the budget is supported," Volodin said.

The prime minister said that many government decisions made to cushion the fallout of the pandemic will remain active in the future.

"They (the socio-economic risks) firstly emerged due to the coronavirus infection and the income part of the budget fell significantly, significant additional resources were required to protect the life and health of our people, and surely to support the economy of the country in these tough times. Many of the adopted decisions will continue to be active in the future," Mishustin said.

Mishustin also said that the government will spend 10 billion rubles per year on the regions with the weakest socio-economic performance.

(76.4667 rubles – U.S. $1)

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