Government urged to reduce spending

The growth in budget spending should be reduced in the future, according to Russia’s Finance Minister.

Speaking after a budget meeting in the Kremlin on Monday, Aleksey Kudrin said spending would grow by around 25 % in 2008, but should go down after that.

“Spending growth in 2008 has been determined and will total 25%. That’s lower than last year. But next year it should be cut. We should stick to it for the next few years. We want the average growth rate for the next three years to equal economic growth,” he said.