The government reported to the president on the success of national projects

Interim results of the implementation of national projects in anticipation of their upcoming renewal and extension were discussed yesterday at a meeting of the Strategic Development Council. Government representatives noted that exports and imports had “reached a balance point,” which ensured the stabilization of the ruble exchange rate “at an acceptable level,” as well as the completion of work to quickly resolve problems and the transition to the “strategic agenda.” The growth in incomes of citizens, minimal unemployment and the expected record in the volume of housing commissioning were not forgotten.

Vladimir Putin, at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects, recalled that in connection with the completion of national projects in 2024, the government will have to clarify goals and prepare updated versions of these documents, while expanding the planning horizon to 2036 (currently it is limited to 2030).

So far, the White House has summed up the interim results of this year. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov was the first to make a report on the results of foreign economic activity and reorientation towards closer cooperation with friendly countries. Exports to the markets of such countries in less than 2023 exceeded $360 billion, increasing in physical terms by 60% by 2021. This was facilitated by the support of non-resource, non-energy exports and the reorientation of energy export directions. Supplies of the latter to unfriendly countries decreased by 3.5 times compared to the 2021 level.

Andrei Belousov described the initial situation with securing the domestic market under sanctions as “extremely dangerous,” since imports from unfriendly countries accounted for 50% in 2021. Now this figure has dropped to 29%. At the same time, the total volume of imports in 2023 amounted to $300 billion, which is higher than in 2021. This is explained both by an increase in the share of imports from friendly countries and by parallel imports ($70 billion over two years), exemption from VAT on imported equipment that has no Russian analogues (the amount of the benefit is estimated at 105 billion rubles), and the zeroing of import duties (“price “for the budget – 130 billion rubles). In general, according to Andrei Belousov, the economy “has found a point of equilibrium between exports and imports,” as evidenced by the stabilization of the exchange rate around 90 rubles. per dollar, “which is acceptable.” Now, he added, it’s time to move from operational solutions to current problems to a strategic agenda.

For industry, as Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said, support measures, including preferential loans, a project financing factory, SZPK and loans from the National Welfare Fund, will provide investments of 2 trillion rubles this year. According to him, in processing investments in January-September grew by 12% year-on-year.

According to the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov, the authorities expect more investments from the financial sector, because the capitalization of the stock market by 2024 is expected to reach 37–39% of GDP, and by 2030 it should reach 50–60%. As part of supporting the process, from 2024, mechanisms will be launched to attract “long-term” money from citizens (see “Kommersant” on October 19) and return blocked assets, and restrictions on the withdrawal of funds by foreign investors in the amount of investments in the Russian Federation will be lifted for their return to the market.

The results of the social part of the national projects, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, look like this: unemployment in November remained at a record low (2.9%), real incomes of the population increased by 3.9% in January-October. Over 11 months, with the help of preferential mortgage programs, 393 thousand young families purchased housing (plus 63% year-on-year), and payments amounted to 450 thousand rubles. 180 thousand families with many children received mortgage repayments. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin added that overall, by the end of the year, the mortgage portfolio of banks is expected to increase by more than 4 trillion rubles, housing commissioning this year will amount to over 105 million square meters. m, which will be a new record (it will probably be 107–108 million sq. m).

Evgenia Kryuchkova