Russian Upper House approves 2007 budget

The Upper House of the Russian Parliament has approved the country's budget for next year. As a result, the Russian army, health care, education and agriculture are to get a lot of financial support from the government.

The main difference in the 2007 budget from the previous one is that money will be directed towards improving Russians' living standards.

The budget for 2007 predicts revenues of 6.9 BLN roubles with the surplus reaching 4.9% of GDP.

25% of spending money will primarily be shifted to ambitious national projects, such as improvement of health care, education, agriculture and housing.

Russia also has the stabilisation fund which was formed due to high oil prices, and there has been a lot of debate and persuasion on the part of MPs, who tried to make the Russian government to spend the money from the fund on economy and social sphere.

However, the government said that it is a fund for a rainy day and, therefore, its money should remain outside the economy. So, even if world oil prices go down, the 2007 budget will be still protected because of the money from the stabilisation fund.