this does not lower the priority of national projects – Kommersant

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov commented on information about the government’s plans to cut budget spending on unprotected items. According to him, this does not reduce the priority of national projects.

“They (national projects.— “b”) are an absolute priority, they have their own implementation nuances, but nevertheless, no one has abandoned these main guidelines. <...> There may also be certain nuances in national projects, but in general this does not lower the priority of national projects, ”Peskov answered a question from Kommersant FM.

The Kremlin spokesman noted that the government demonstrates “very high efficiency” in the implementation of national projects. “Everything is done in its own way. But there are, indeed, some unprotected projects where you can save money. Absolutely normal process,” he added.

The government commission on budget projections approved the proposal of the Ministry of Finance to reduce budget expenditures for 2024 by 10% on so-called unprotected items, Vedomosti sources reported earlier. According to one of them, the amount of cuts will be about 450 billion rubles.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov this week informedthat a 10% budget cut refers to non-social expenditures and will not affect social benefits. The minister said that the frontal budget cuts imply “a uniform reduction in spending across all ministries and departments.” He also promised that the state’s defense spending would not be affected.

Leonid Uvarchev