Putin and Government Discuss Aspects of Russia's Economy

Much continues to happen within Russia to further protect and expand its economy as you'll learn from this meeting with some government members. Of course, Putin sets the tone, but the reports provided give us clues as to the modifications Russia's making to its political-economic model Putin mentions at the outset. Yes, the demographic stats and direction are important as usual, but what's prominent is the focus of new programs to involve the Russian public in capitalizing Russia's economy. The transcript is lengthy as the meeting's video is an hour long; both can be found here. Russia's efforts have brought good results, but they still need to be surpassed, and the government is well aware of its challenges as you'll read. The translated transcript follows:

Vladimir Putin: Dear colleagues, good afternoon!

As you know, recently at a meeting with representatives of business, big business, we talked about the new growth model of our economy and what needs to be done to support it. I suggest that today, together with members of the Government and the leadership of the Central Bank, we also discuss this topic and return to what we discussed with the business community.

It is known that the Russian economy has been showing positive dynamics since July last year, including due to the development of business niches of Western companies in our market-at the expense of those who left our market, as well as due to the active development of relations with fast-growing countries in the east and south.

However, the return to the growth trajectory should not relax us. We need to support and strengthen the positive trends in our economy, increase its efficiency, ensure technological, human and financial sovereignty, and we need to act quickly, without unnecessary bureaucracy and delays, because the illegitimate restrictions imposed on the Russian economy in the medium term can really have a negative impact on it.

In this regard, we need to ensure a steady increase in domestic demand. In the current situation, it becomes the leading factor of economic growth, comes to the fore.

At the same time, I would like to note that the dynamics of domestic demand should correspond to the Bank of Russia's inflation targets. It is important not to allow either its acceleration or excessive deceleration. I won't give you the latest data, but you know this very well yourself.

Next, we need to consistently remove structural restrictions that constrain business activity. I am referring to bottlenecks in logistics, finance, training, and so on.

We are moving in all these directions. The next stage of work at BAM has recently been completed, and this is a very positive result for all our colleagues – I would like to congratulate you once again and all those who worked on it.

And of course, we need to support projects that are primarily aimed at technological and infrastructural development of Russia, at strengthening its industrial potential and sovereignty. I spoke about this in detail at the National Projects Council last December, as you will recall, and also in my Address to the Federal Assembly. At the same time, he outlined the main strategic tasks of the Government for 2023.

During our meeting, I propose to summarize the current, interim results of this work. And here we already have a lot to say, there are a number of positive things, a number of achievements.

First of all, as for foreign trade turnover: its volumes with our main partners are growing, including due to the restructuring of logistics.

According to the results of February, the volume of loading on the railway was increased. Preliminary data from March indicate a further improvement in this dynamic, and this, as we know, is a very good indicator of what is happening in real life.

The problem of overstocking of Far Eastern ports has been solved. Today, they operate in a normal, planned mode, both in terms of export and import of containers in the western direction. I would like to thank the Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways for these results.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done. This year we need to complete the deepening of, for example, the Volga-Caspian Canal. We will continue to increase the capacity of the Eastern Railway Polygon, increase the capacity of ports in the Azov-Black Sea basin, and modernize border checkpoints. I look forward to a responsible attitude on the part of all participants in this work.

I would like to add that Russia's interaction with key foreign countries is not limited to trade alone. Last week, for example, together with our Chinese colleagues, we identified eight key areas of cooperation. Among them are the creation of technological partnerships, interconnected infrastructure development, cooperation in the financial sector and the real sector.

In this regard, a few words about the technological sovereignty of Russia.

While the dynamics of our manufacturing industry remains weak, unfortunately, it is below the level of last year. Please pay attention to this, it is extremely important. The primary goal is to restore the most affected industries, such as the automotive industry and the timber industry.

At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the rapid launch of new projects in the manufacturing sectors, especially in the production of high-tech products. Decisions to support such projects have been made, including the cluster investment platform and industrial mortgages. We have discussed this many times, and the Government has developed these new tools and done so in a timely manner, and I think the tools are very good. I ask you not to delay only their implementation, not to postpone it, but to apply these mechanisms as widely as possible in practice right now.

We also discussed this with the Minister [of Industry and Trade] – Deputy Prime Minister . He promised that all additional adjustments will be made in the very near future and the process will be launched. I hope that's what's happening.

We will also return to this topic together with our colleagues from the regions at the next meeting of the Presidium of the State Council.

Of course, the key issue for launching business ideas is financing from both the banking sector and the stock market. We are talking primarily about equity and so-called mezzanine financing.

To date, these tools are not actively used enough. More resources are needed from banks and the entire financial system for development projects, and especially for the initiatives of fast-growing technology companies.

I would like to add that our financial system should play a big role in meeting the needs of exporters. It is necessary to replace the departed Western institutions that worked in this niche. Of course, we have already discussed this topic many times.

The following is infrastructure. The next most important thing – maybe not the most important thing, but what I would like to say – is infrastructure.

Last year's results in the construction industry speak for themselves. We have reached record levels in both housing commissioning and road repairs. The task of the Government and our colleagues in the regions and regions is to maintain this pace.

Deputy Prime Minister , and I also discussed this issue. There are certain difficulties, they are well-known and understandable, but I hope that we will still be able to keep up the pace.

Decisions in this regard have also been made, including additional budget loans for infrastructure development-plus 315 billion [rubles] in the current year.

(To M. Mishustin.) Mikhail Vladimirovich, we were just discussing: this is just a right-to-left movement, isn't it? That's what they were talking about, right?

:Mishustin Yes, we talked about the possibility of moving from right to left. Let's discuss this.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, yes.

We have organized advanced financing of regional projects at the expense of funds allocated to the federal budget, as I just said, for 2024. In any case, we will discuss this now.

I ask Marat Shakirzyanovich [Khusnullin] and Alexey Leonidovich Teksler to tell us about the readiness of the regions for such work, whether all the tools are at their disposal. I am also very much looking forward to hearing proposals for advanced financing of not only regional but also federal projects, which is also extremely important. Let's not forget that either – but what about it? Federal projects should always be the focus of our attention.

Further, the key indicator of economic development and the quality of our economic policy is the dynamics of citizens ' incomes. Ultimately, this is our goal-to make people's lives better. I would like to note that wages and real disposable incomes of the population as a whole in the country have started to grow again in real terms. Yes, these are still very modest figures, and I will not reproduce them here, but they are still there. I will say – as you know, but nevertheless – that real wages have been growing since October 2022: 0.3 percent, 0.4 percent, 0.6. Real disposable incomes of citizens in the fourth quarter increased by 0.9 percent compared to the same period in 2021. Of course, this is very small, but it is still a movement in the right direction.

By the end of March, inflation will fall below four percent. According to some estimates, it will continue to slow down, which means that real incomes of citizens should accelerate. I expect that an additional increase in the minimum wage by 18.5 percent at the beginning of next year will also contribute.

I would also like to note that unemployment in Russia remains at a record low. However, even in this case, this does not mean that all the problems in the labor market have already been solved. There are generally questions about the quality of jobs. In some regions and localities, the unemployment rate is still much higher than the national average. At enterprises where output has declined, teams are partially loaded and work part-time. It is clear that this has a negative impact on wages, because, as I have already said, real incomes are growing on average, but this is still not the case in some regions and in some areas.

I expect more active actions from my colleagues here. Separately, I ask you to ensure broad implementation of the principles of lean production in the economic and social sectors, and expand the national project on labor productivity.

In addition, we need to continue to create opportunities for professional development and training of young people so that they receive modern, popular skills, which means that they can count on a higher income and better provide for their families. Here I would like to draw your attention to the implementation of a joint project of the state and business to modernize secondary vocational education. I mentioned this in my Message.

And the last thing I would like to say now, in my opening speech, but not the last in importance, of course: according to Rosstat, last year life expectancy in Russia increased by 2.7 years. Now it is 72.8 years old. Mortality continues to decline. It is crucial to support these demographic trends. I repeat: this is an integral and most important task for all levels of government.

I know that the Government is preparing additional proposals for strategic sessions based on the objective situation. I am sure that the result of this work will be projects of new measures in six areas of development, which I mentioned at the National Projects Council. Please provide their specific parameters in May of this year.

Here is what I would like to say at the beginning.

Let's move on to the reports. Please give the floor to Tatyana Alekseevna Golikova.

Please, Tatiana Alekseevna.

T. : Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, dear colleagues, good afternoon!

As you have already noted, Mr President, improving the well-being of Russian citizens is our strategic priority and a priority in the Government's activities. We expect that the development of the economy and its growth rates, as well as the creation of new jobs, will provide us with an increase in the minimum wage, real wages, and incomes of the population, which are indicators of this priority.

Regarding the minimum wage, we proceed from the strategy of its outstripping growth above the subsistence minimum. In 2023, the minimum wage exceeded the subsistence level of an able-bodied citizen by 3.7 percent, and your decision to raise the minimum wage from December 1, 2024, will approximately ensure that the minimum wage exceeds the subsistence level by 17.1 percent.

The increase in the minimum wage in 2024 will affect 4.8 million employees, including 2.5 million public sector employees. This will require 125 billion rubles from the budgets of the state budget system and 92 billion rubles from employers.

As you have already noted, according to preliminary information from Rosstat, but so far without taking into account the final data on small and medium-sized enterprises, the real average monthly accrued salary in 2022 compared to 2021 decreased slightly: by one percent. At the same time, the fourth quarter demonstrates the dynamics of an increase in real wages.

I would like to say that even according to preliminary data, real wages have increased in 22 regions. The largest number is found in the Khanty ‒ Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Republic of Buryatia. If we talk about federal districts, the growth of real wages is demonstrated by the Siberian and Ural Federal Districts. The aggregate growth of real wages over the past five years has amounted to 22.1 percent.

But this is still preliminary data. Traditionally, in May, the Federal State Statistics Service will update data on wages, and we expect that in general, real wages will show a slight increase in 2022.

According to the forecast, taking into account the measures that are planned to be implemented in 2023, a steady increase in real wages and real incomes of the population is expected in the Russian Federation as a whole.

But I would like to mention the state employees. We are still monitoring the situation with the so-called registered state employees, there are 5.2 million of them. I would like to note that starting from January 1, 2023, the salary fund for this category has been increased by 8.7 percent. Another 6.3 million employees belong to other categories of public sector employees, and starting from October 1, 2023, they will be subject to wage indexation by 5.5 percent.

Now let's talk about income and poverty levels. The average per capita income, according to preliminary data from Rosstat, increased in 2022 compared to 2021 by 12.4 percent and amounted to 45,272 rubles. In real terms, as you have already noted, this corresponds to a slight decrease, but, as in the case of wages, the fourth quarter shows growth in real terms.

I would particularly like to note the growth of monetary incomes of the ten percent of the least affluent population throughout the year. Thanks to targeted support measures and bringing incomes to the subsistence level, the average per capita income of the least affluent population increased by 41 percent in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.

As a result, the poverty rate in the fourth quarter was, according to preliminary data from Rosstat, 7.9 percent, and in general for the year ‒ 10.5, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than in 2021. The target value for 2022 was set at 10.8.

Active work in the labor market in 2022 made it possible, with the assistance of employment centers, to employ one million 28 thousand of our citizens, of which almost 254 thousand are citizens who were registered as unemployed.

During the period 2017-2022, thanks to active support measures, 3.6 million of our citizens came out of poverty. And I would also like to note that the structure of poverty for 2022 also shows a redistribution of income from high-income groups to low-income ones.

Together with the regions, the Government of the Russian Federation is working on the regional poverty profile. Poverty targets up to 2030 have been developed and approved for each region. In 2020, the regions were recommended to adopt regional programs, to date, such programs have been approved in 76 regions, and in 2023 it is planned to approve such programs in eight more regions.

In 2023, according to the indicators of the unified plan, the target value of the poverty level should be 10.1 percent. To achieve this value, we implement the following measures.

As you know, starting from January 1, 2023, a single allowance has been introduced in connection with the birth and upbringing of a child. For these purposes, in 2023, 1.7 trillion rubles are provided from the budgets of all levels. As of March 28, a single allowance was assigned to more than 4.2 million children and almost 169 thousand pregnant women.

An important innovation in supporting families with children from January 1, 2023 is an improved payment from the mother capital to families whose income ranges from one to two times the subsistence minimum. This payment is now available for all children under the age of three, regardless of the order of birth – previously it was only for the second child. Up to 502 thousand of our families can receive such support. Today, it has already been received by 50 thousand citizens.

In accordance with your instructions, Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are actively working to provide maternity capital to citizens of new regions of the Russian Federation, which is already 46,900 maternity capital certificates.

Funding for the social contract will be increased in 2023. Almost 43 billion rubles are provided for this purpose, and about 825 thousand of our citizens can be covered by this form of support.

On your instructions, a set of measures aimed at increasing the real incomes of families with children has been developed and is currently undergoing interagency approval.

The Government will also strengthen efforts to reduce the share of shadow employment in the economy. Currently, an action plan is being implemented to reduce the level of shadow employment and legalize labor relations for 2022-2024. In all regions, such plans have been approved, and interdepartmental commissions have been established with the participation of supervisory authorities and departments of the economic and social bloc.

Another important task that you mentioned, Mr President ‒ is saving the people. Thanks to the measures taken in 2022, after a sharp increase in the incidence of a new coronavirus infection in January‒March last year, the situation was stabilized. The volume of medical examinations and professional examinations was increased, which in 2022 were passed by almost 70 million people, which is one and a half times more than in 2021. The volume of other types of medical care has also increased, as Mikhail Vladimirovich [Mishustin] reported to the State Duma at the Government's report.

As a result, more than 540,000 lives were saved in 2022. Mortality for the year decreased by 23.2 percent, including from diseases of the circulatory system-by 11 percent, and from cancer - by almost one percent. As you have already said, this allowed for an increase in life expectancy.

But I want to note that the trend of further reduction in mortality is also observed in 2023. In January-February 2023, lives were saved by 83.5 thousand more than in the same period last year, and by 20.8 thousand more than in January-February of the pre-season, 2019.

According to Rosstat, in January-February, life expectancy was 73.07 years. Three regions of the country have already reached the target of 78 years set for 2030 ‒ These are Moscow, the republics of Dagestan and Ingushetia.

We expect that if the current trend continues and all regions are focused on the main and most important priority ‒ saving people, the mortality rate for 2023 will be one and a half to two percent lower than in 2019, the pre-harvest year, and life expectancy will be at the level of 73.5 years and exceed the pre-harvest level of 2019.

To increase the population and restore the birth rate, it is important to avoid deaths among children, especially at an early age. In 2022, infant mortality continued to decline. This trend was also noted in January-February 2023: it is 4.1 per thousand live births, and compared to 2019, the pre-pubescent year, this figure decreased by 10.9 percent. Today, almost 92 percent of our children are covered by preventive examinations.

Since 2023, neonatal screening has been expanded, allowing for the first time to diagnose more than 40 additional congenital and hereditary diseases at the population level. The material and technical base for such work will be created in 2022. On my instructions, the Ministry of Health has now organized monthly monitoring of the number of children born and examined, and the diseases detected in them.

To help children using innovative medical technologies, 13 children's hospitals have been put into operation since 2020, 22 more were built and reconstructed in 2022, and we plan to put 11 more children's hospitals into operation by the end of 2024.

We plan to pay more attention to women's health, first of all, we are talking about medical examinations of young women of the main reproductive ages. But they also instructed all regions to organize such work.

I would also like to note that a significant role in reducing the mortality rate of the population is played by the primary link, which detects the disease, monitors the patient throughout his life, corrects treatment and takes measures to prevent complications.

On your instructions, starting from January 1, 2023, additional payments will be made to primary care medical workers, central district and district hospitals, as well as emergency medical services. As of March 28, these payments have already covered more than 815 thousand medical workers, and payments have already been made in the amount of 12.4 billion rubles.

But today our focus is on the polyclinic, which should have all the resources to carry out its activities. Now, along with the implementation of the infrastructure component of primary health care modernization programs, we conduct a regional analysis of the financial support of primary health care organizations.

We have already identified facts that concern us. What is it about? These are differences in the size of the per capita standard per citizen between equivalent medical organizations in the same region. Basically, we are talking about redistribution in favor of urban medical organizations. We told you about this when we talked about demographic problems.

Here, after conducting an appropriate analysis, we held a meeting of experts with the regions and gave instructions to eliminate these distortions, since such distortions affect the activities of organizations and the provision of medical care to patients.

This work will continue in the near future and you will be informed about it.

Thanks for attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Tatyana Alekseevna.

And a few words about "Professionalism", please.

Tatyana Golikova: Yes, Mr Putin.

Starting in 2022, we have started implementing new approaches to training workers in a pilot mode on your instructions. The project was called "Professalitet".

What are its features? Employers are actively involved in educational processes. They participate not only in the implementation of educational programs, but also in designing their content for their specific personnel needs. Professional Development programs are reduced in terms of training time, but not by more than 40 percent, and are based on a practice-oriented approach.

Starting from the first semester, on average, students spend about 50 percent of the time allotted for practical training at the enterprise. They master modern equipment, technologies, additional competencies demanded by employers, also learn the skills of digitalization and lean manufacturing, and pass a demonstration exam.

Starting from the second year, students receive payments from employers ‒ these are scholarships that range from 500 rubles to 12.5 thousand. Some employers provide grants – for example, Russian Railways, which is present today, is very active in offering them.

The project currently involves 55 regions of the country and more than 300 employers. Since September 1, 2022, 150 thousand children have already started training. We created 71 industrial and educational clusters in eight industries, as it was a start. We spent seven billion rubles of the federal budget on this, the regions allocated an additional 1.1 billion rubles and employers invested 1.5 billion rubles.

In 2022-2025, the budget has already provided 53 billion rubles for these purposes. We were supposed to train 600,000 [students], but due to the fact that you set a different task for us in your Message and significantly expanded the set of professions in which we should train specialists, we will also need to increase financial resources, the volume of which, in accordance with your instructions, we will consider at the next meeting. the formation of the budget for 2024 and subsequent years, but also the additional creation of industrial and educational clusters.

We estimated approximately that the increase in… Now we are creating about 70 [clusters], this year we have already created another 70, we have also attracted a large number of employers, but the annual increase of 70 was based on the fact that by 2025 we should produce 600 thousand trained under new programs. Since we are increasing the task and we need to implement a million by 2028, we will need to increase these industrial and educational clusters to about 170 annually, and then almost 50 percent of colleges will be covered by Professional programs.

As an example, Mr Putin, what has this already done for us? We have responded to the additional need of the military-industrial complex for personnel. I am now calling the figures for today, if we started only from September 1, 2022: out of 8,8 thousand people who went to practice at enterprises of the military-industrial complex, 1,700 people have already signed contracts for targeted training, and 1,792 are employed in full-time jobs and will simultaneously work and complete the corresponding professionally- technical schools. Thus, military-industrial enterprises are already receiving appropriate personnel.

Now we have organized our work with the Ministry of Industry and Trade in such a way that, based on weekly meetings, we verify the needs of the industry in personnel, somewhere in manual mode, somewhere in planned mode, we cover the needs of enterprises not only in the military-industrial complex, but also in other personnel.

What else applies to "Professionalism"? We attract three thousand mentors from our enterprises. The number of companies that allocate their mentors is 1.5 thousand. We train and improve the skills of teachers and masters of industrial training, funds for this purpose are provided in the budget. In addition, we plan to create a center for advanced training in secondary vocational education in Kaluga, and funds are also provided for this.

I would also like to note that in 2022, on your instructions, amendments were made to the Tax Code, which enable enterprises investing in the material and technical base of open source software to provide appropriate benefits and reduce income tax. Today, the regions can take advantage of this, and Nizhny Novgorod has already taken advantage of this norm. We invite all regions to join this work as well.

This year we launched the system of the championship movement of professional skills. The regional stage started in March, and the federal stage will be held at the end of the year. All 89 regions participate in the championship. The final championship will be held in November in St. Petersburg together with the international forum "Russian Industrialist" and in September ‒ on high technologies – in Veliky Novgorod, at the site that you visited during your visit.

Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Tatyana Alekseevna.

Let's talk about the financial support of all our plans. I would ask Andrey Removich Belousov to start.

You are welcome.

A. :Thank you very much.

Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, Dear colleagues!

Achieving fiscal sovereignty is one of the six key objectives for achieving the national goals for the period up to 2030. In fact, we are talking about the self-sufficiency of the Russian financial market in terms of both the provision of "long" financial resources and the availability of exhaustive conditions for their conversion into investments in the real sector of the economy.

I will focus on the current status. In general, it can be stated that thanks to the measures taken, the Russian financial market has demonstrated high resistance to external shocks and the ability to overcome the impact of sanctions. However, naturally, there were a number of negative consequences. The capitalization of the Russian market compared to the previous year decreased by almost 39 percent, and the trading volume-by 41 percent. The number of new share placements fell from 11 in 2021 to just two last year.

There are a number of problems that need to be solved. The shortage of "long" money has worsened, including due to the departure of foreign investors. Investor confidence has fallen significantly, which is also due to the closure of information for market participants. Risks associated with increased uncertainty have increased, including due to problems with payments and the foreign exchange market, as the stock and foreign exchange markets are closely linked.

Mr President, yesterday we held a strategic session under the leadership of Mikhail Mishustin, where we discussed in detail how to solve these problems and the corresponding targets for 2025-2030.

We have outlined five key areas. The first is an increase in the supply of "long" money for both individuals and companies. The second is to strengthen investor confidence in the Russian financial market. The third is to expand the range of investment tools to reduce investment risks and increase flexibility in making investment decisions. Fourth, integration of the Russian financial market and the financial markets of friendly countries, including by attracting investors from friendly countries. This is an extremely important area, since no national financial market, including the Russian one, can develop completely in isolation. And the fifth is the use of digital financial assets and digital financial platforms.

I will focus in more detail on each of these areas.

The first is an increase in the supply of "long" money. There are opportunities for this. The level of gross national savings over the past two years is about 30 percent of GDP, and it has even slightly increased compared to previous years. At the same time, gross savings are only about 22 percent, meaning that the gap between gross savings and savings is almost eight percent of GDP. This resource of underutilized savings, which currently funds the gap between exports and imports, has the potential to boost stock market capitalization.

What is offered? Introduce a new type of investment account for individuals. The development of existing investment accounts, which, by the way, are very popular – their number last year reached more than five million units with assets of 551 billion rubles – and it is planned to create a new long-term product.

For this type of investment account, tax benefits will be applied both in the form of a deduction for the entire amount deposited, and in the form of income exemption from personal income tax, and these benefits will only be available if the funds in these accounts have been used for five or more years.

Relevant draft federal laws have been prepared and will be submitted to the State Duma in April for adoption in the spring session.

Next, it is proposed to launch a fundamentally new financial product-a long-term savings program for citizens. We are talking about a product that will be formed at the expense of voluntary contributions from citizens and co-financing from the state. Long-term savings agreements will be concluded with non-state pension funds that are under strict regulatory control by the Bank of Russia, and the Treasury will administer them.

A tax deduction will be applied to these contributions of citizens. In addition, the funds deposited by citizens will be insured by the state in the amount of twice as much as for bank deposits – in the amount of 2.8 million rubles, in accordance with your instructions given in the Message.

We assume that the relevant law will be adopted in April of this year.

Further, in order to develop the voluntary life insurance segment, it is proposed to introduce the institute of shared life insurance. Today, within the framework of a classic life insurance contract, citizens cannot invest funds themselves. This is a new type of insurance, which will be a classic insurance and at the same time give citizens the opportunity to invest part of the paid insurance premium in their chosen instruments and assets to generate investment income. In other words, it is proposed to turn this insurance product into a full-fledged investment tool for citizens. Citizens ' investments under the new type of insurance will be guaranteed by the state in the same way as bank deposits in the amount of 1.4 million rubles.

We are carefully working on this draft law with the Bank of Russia-its adoption is scheduled for the spring session-because there are still a number of unresolved issues, including the tax deduction, but I think we will solve them in the near future.

The second direction of achieving financial sovereignty ‒ this is strengthening investor confidence. It is proposed to partially and very carefully resume the disclosure of information by issuers of securities, which was restricted due to sanctions pressure. The Government, together with the Bank of Russia and business associations, is developing a balanced solution. It is necessary to create a clear and understandable list of information that will not harm companies, but at the same time allow investors to make decisions about investing in the assets of these companies.

This is an absolutely necessary direction, because it is clear that, on the one hand, we have closed the information under the influence of sanctions, and here, too, of course, it is necessary to open it all very limited. But, on the other hand, an investor will never invest in securities if he does not understand the situation with the company that is behind these financial securities. Therefore, if we want to unblock this process, we need to move very carefully in this direction.

The third direction is to expand the range of financial instruments for investment.

It is proposed to introduce a special type of securities, the so-called multi-voice shares. These securities are shares, the owner of which is granted the right to several votes at the meeting of shareholders. This will allow issuers to raise more funds while maintaining control over the company. Currently, only the "one share ‒ one vote" mechanism works. Similar "multi-voice" promotions are already being issued in special administrative regions. This issue is still being worked out with the Bank of Russia, there are forks, not all points have been resolved here, but we expect to resolve all differences in the near future.

Next, it is proposed to introduce a new type of convertible securities into circulation. Such an instrument will give the issuer the right to issue preferred shares that are converted into voting shares if a certain event occurs, for example, if income is not paid on them. This will provide additional protection for investors, as the conversion of shares will occur automatically, without additional consent of the issuer.

Next, [it is proposed] to launch the institute of partner financing – the so-called Islamic banking. We are talking about investment products that are common in a number of Arab countries. Their peculiarity is the absence of the usual interest collection. Instead, it offers equity investment in the capital of organizations with subsequent repurchase at a premium or other method of generating income. A pilot project is being prepared on the territories of four constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The pilot project is designed for two years. The relevant bill is planned to be adopted in the spring session.

Finally, [it is proposed] to create support tools for issuers and investors of high-tech companies ' securities. An effective measure, in our opinion, may be to reduce the base for calculating income tax at the expense of expenses for placing securities with an increasing coefficient, as is done for accelerated depreciation for R & D. First of all, we plan to test such a mechanism on medium-sized high-tech companies, for which the issue of securities is relevant, and then extend it to a wider range of companies.

The fourth direction is building relationships with investors from friendly countries. To do this, we are working on the possibility of remote identification for foreign individuals from friendly countries who want to conduct operations on the Russian financial market and open accounts with banks and other financial organizations. The relevant law has already been prepared by Rosfin monitoring and submitted to the State Duma on March 24.

We are also working on measures to lift restrictions on investors who invested in the Russian economy after the introduction of sanctions. This was discussed at a recent meeting in the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. There are such investors, and it would be fair for them to remove restrictions at least on the payment of dividends and, perhaps, the withdrawal of investments-of course, in volumes not exceeding the investments made, and under clear control.

And finally, the fifth direction is the digitalization of financial transactions. This work is primarily carried out by the Bank of Russia together with the Government. It is planned to create regulatory, technical and organizational conditions for the introduction of the digital ruble. This work has already reached the final stage, and it is expected to be completed this year. The bill was passed by the State Duma in the first reading on March 16.

It is also planned to provide for the possibility of performing operations with digital currencies in the traditional financial infrastructure, on the stock exchange and with the participation of brokers. This will allow you to make transactions with them in an organized market, which will increase their liquidity and attractiveness for investors and issuers.

There are a few more suggestions in this section, but I'll tell you more about them in the closed section, if possible.

Dear Mr Putin, all these proposals are being worked out in varying degrees of readiness, but in any case, we plan to launch them fully within the current year. We have developed and approved a corresponding road map with Elvira Sakhipzadovna [Nabiullina], and it is already being implemented.

Summing up, I would like to note that the full implementation of these proposals will allow us to achieve the following results. The share of investment insurance and pension products of citizens 'savings will increase from 21 percent of the volume of savings-this is last year's data ‒ to 26 percent in 2025 and 36 percent in 2030, that is, every third ruble of citizens' savings will be invested. Equity market capitalization will increase from 22 percent of GDP to 26 percent in 2025 and 32 percent in 2030, respectively. The volume of project financing [will increase] from 12 trillion rubles to 16 trillion rubles in 2025 and 26 trillion rubles in 2030, that is, more than twice.

Thank you for your attention.

Vladimir Putin: Interesting. A good set.

(To A. Siluanov.) Anton Germanovich, tax benefits and other steps that cannot be taken without you – I know how you feel about such proposals in general, but this is still a special case.

You are welcome.

A. Siluanov : Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.

What Andrey Ramovich has just reported is that everything has been agreed upon, including all tax benefits and preferences. This is a very correct and important condition for the development of the financial market.

But I would like to focus on one of the issues that Andrey Ramovich also raised. We are talking about how to create interest in financial investments among our citizens, because our citizens are one of the main investors in the financial market. This interest was particularly noticeable in 2021: the number of investors, our ordinary people, reached 20 million people and doubled compared to 2020.

Of course, now the interest in financial investments has changed. The situation is clear, and interest is declining. Therefore, new opportunities are now being offered for our people not just to keep money under their pillow or in the bank, but to invest this money securely and use additional opportunities to generate income. These two tasks-so that our people can invest in new tools and earn a good income-are among the main tasks of developing the financial market.

There are indeed several options available for this.

The first option, for particularly cautious investors – is a long-term savings program. That is, if people do not want to take risks, but want to save money for themselves, for example, at the birth of a child for his education or for the purchase of an apartment, or, for example, just for additional income in the future, and this money will be reliably protected, these investments will also be co-financed by the state – we are talking about It is noted that co-financing can be up to 36 thousand rubles a year, and this will continue for the first three years, plus also guarantees from the state. That is why it is such a reliable tool and you will be able to earn – on average, of course-in the long term more than on deposits. I think that this is a very good offer for such cautious, conservative citizens and investors.

Further. For those people who want to take risks and earn more money, a new tool of individual investment accounts is offered, where people will choose the securities in which they will invest, or they can contact the appropriate management companies and choose their own policies based on the degree of risk. Let's say you can buy Sberbank shares, invest in Gazprom, and so on. In other words, people themselves will already make appropriate decisions or can consult, but these are already more active participants in the financial market.

The next one is life insurance. We used to have such products, back in the Soviet era, when, on the one hand, you seem to insure your health, buy insurance, but also receive investment income, that is, in addition to the fact that, God forbid, an insured event will occur, in any case, at the end of the insurance period, you will receive investment income which will also be no lower – in general, we can see what the returns on the financial market are-than on the deposit. It's also an interesting tool for people.

Tax benefits will be applied to all instruments, and co – financing will be applied to some of them, and tax benefits will be provided both in the form of a tax deduction for investments and when leaving, and appropriate tax preferences will also be provided for earning money.

What's important? We are talking about "long" money, and Andrey Ramovich also talked about this. But what is important for people? If there is a particularly difficult life situation, then in such cases it will be possible to withdraw money without losing any benefits or income previously received. I think that this will also be positively received by our ordinary people, investors who want to make money.

Therefore, our task here is to create good opportunities for ordinary citizens who want to invest, earn money and invest reliably in the future.

Thanks.

Vladimir Putin: How to ensure the interest of potential investors? You answered it yourself: ensure reliability and profitability. Here you have partially reported the details.