Alexei Ulyukayev, the Economic Development Minister of the Russian Federation, expressed his concerns regarding the unrealistically negative comments of Andrei Belousov, the presidential aide for economic issues, to the effect that the Economic Development Ministry and the Finance Ministry are not trying to attract additional funds in order to increase economic development.

Minister Ulyukayev said that addressing an issue such as that was outside of the Finance Ministry’s competence. Fie emphasized that overly positive forecasts would disorient the business community. Instead, Minister Ulyukayev gave an indication that he prefers to deal with conservative probability estimates and realistic action plans.

Presidential aide Belousov said that both Ministries need to be looking for additional funds in order to accelerate the economic growth of the country.

Minister Ulyukayev proposed improving the entrepreneurial climate, lowering expenses by setting fixed rates for the natural resources monopolies, supporting exports, as well as small and medium businesses. Minister Ulyukayev also suggested paying more attention to infrastructure development projects, which is in part an initiative financially backed by the National Welfare Fund.

Minister Ulyukayev noted that the inflation rate in Russia could vary between 6.2 and 6.5 percent in 2013. At the same time, the Minister hesitated to give an inflation prognosis for the month of December. It was difficult to give the inflation prediction for December due to several factors. Inflation could depend on how much bonuses businesses pay before the New Year holiday and how many salary advances are issued. He said that inflation for December is likely to fall between 0.4 and 0.8 percent.