PRIME-TASS. Growth of government spending in Russia, first and foremost, on national defense and security, and also public debt servicing, is higher than the country’s possibilities, notes the Audit Chamber’s deputy chairman Valery Goreglyad.
“The structure of Russia’s budget is such that it can be kept well-balanced only on the heels of extremely high crude prices," says the auditor during a meeting held by the expert-consultative group “Budget Policy and Macroeconomic Indicators of Growth”.
In his opinion, the Russian government would better thoroughly measure the feasibility of an external and internal borrowing program, which it announced, in order to plug the budget deficit.
Draft main areas of the national debt policy, which were worked out by the Finance Ministry, stipulate that in 2012—14 Russia will borrow Rub 6.33 tln on the internal market. As of July 1, 2011 Russia’s public debt stood at Rub 4.6 tln, including the internal public debt (Rub 3.6 tln), and the external public debt amounted to $36.8 bln.
