Putin: Revising Russia's 2007 Budget With Big Capitalization of Infrastructure

April 27 (EIRNS)--Novosti reports that, on Putin's instructions, Russia will triple the capital of its new Development Bank, and double the capital of the Russian Venture Company this year. These are designed to encourage further private investment in expensive infrastructure and high-risk venture projects, which will be realized with state financial support. "The capital of the Development Bank will be increased to 250 billion rubles ($10 billion) and the capital of the venture company will be raised by 15 billion rubles ($584 million)," senior Kremlin economic expert Arkady Dvorkovich said yesterday after Putin's speech. He said this would require revision of the 2007 budget parameters.

The initial charter capital of the Development Bank is projected to reach 70 billion rubles ($3 billion). It will attract loans and investment in projects, which will be co-funded from the state Investment Fund. The fund will receive 100 billion rubles ($4 billion) annually under the 2008-2010 federal budget. Russia's venture company is a project to help revitalize the country's industrial base as it seeks to diversify the economy away from commodity exports. The money, which is the government's 49% share in the company, will be invested in venture funds run by professional management companies.