Russia Prime Minister: Investment in Russian Economy Up 18% in 2000Capital investments in Russia's economy grew by 18 percent last year compared to 1999, Russia's Prime Minister told a Cabinet meeting Thursday.The investments in the Russian economy totaled about 1,171.5 billion rubles (dlrs 42 billion), he said, according to his spokeswoman Tatyana Razbash. However, he said Russia would have to reform its heavy-handed bureaucracy in order to attract a similar level of investment this year, Razbash said. Kasyanov said the government was planning a series of measures aimed at streamlining bureaucracy, but provided no details. The increase in investment reflected a general uptick in Russia's economy, largely due to high world prices for oil, a major Russia export commodity. Also last year, President Vladimir Putin pushed through investor-friendly reforms, such as changes in the country's labyrinthine tax code. In other good news for the economy, the Central Bank said Thursday that its foreign exchange and gold reserves had reached a new record of dlrs 28.6 billion last week. The one-week rise of dlrs 700 million, from dlrs 27.9 billion a week earlier, was the biggest gain since a dlrs 900 million jump in one week last December. Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves more than doubled in 2000, from dlrs 12.46 billion on Jan. 1, 1999, to dlrs 27.95 billion a year later. |
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