UPDATE: Medvedev wants econ growth ensured with internal sources

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MOSCOW, Jun 27 (PRIME) -- Russia’s economic growth should be ensured with internal sources, not with commodity prices, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the United Russia party meeting on Monday.

“We want to build economy whose growth will be ensured with internal sources, not with prices on commodity exchanges, with a business climate comfortable for the Russian business and attractive for foreign investors, with an efficient government sector,” he said.

It is necessary to strengthen macroeconomic stability to achieve this goal, Medvedev said.

Russia will increase affordability of financial resources for business and change its taxation system so that it does not only collect money for the budget, but stimulates creation of new non-commodity enterprises, he said.

At present, Russia is able to manage without imports of food products, Medvedev also said.

“Today, we collect such harvests that we have managed to enter the top three states in terms of grain supplies to the global market. The level of food security has significantly increased. Russia is really able to nourish itself without food imports,” he said.

The Russian agricultural sector has been showing stable growth over the last five years regardless of the state of economy. In 2016, the government will allot 215 billion rubles to support the sector, he said.

The country should keep its budget balanced and fulfill all social obligations, Medvedev said.

Russia has managed to curb unemployment growth, although there was a real threat of large-scale layoffs, he said.

“We have worked and will continue working to support the labor market,” he said.

“We have managed to limit unemployment. Not to allow massive layoffs at enterprises, when there was a real threat. We will continue taking measures allowing people to find work regardless of their age, address, and to have professional retraining if necessary and get a new profession that is in demand on the market.”

The maternity capital program has been prolonged until 2018 and United Russia will look for possibilities to further prolong it if wins elections to the State Duma, he said.

United Russia has also proposed to restore pension growth at a previous year’s inflation level starting already from 2017, Medvedev said.

“We understand that life is becoming more expensive, prices for pharmaceutical products and food are growing, although we are trying to cap them. That’s why United Russia proposes to restore pension indexation at the level of inflation of the previous year starting already next year,” he said.

(65.5287 rubles – U.S. $1)

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