Loans may be Russian small business saviour

Summing up the ministry's work and major achievements, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina mentioned GDP growth of 7.6%, investment inflow increasing 20% to reach $US 45 billion, and revenue growth of 10%.

However, Nabiullina said high inflation was last year's major economic failure, coming in at nearly 12% instead of the planned 8%.

The Minister also pointed out that encouraging small business should become a key government priority, and that to do this the credit system should be expanded significantly.

“We expect the amount of bank loans to exceed 14% by the year 2011, currently bank credits make only 9.4% of all investments. Small business needs more than $US 40 billion dollars of credit resources, while it gets only $US 10 billion,” Nabiullina said.