#11 - JRL 6525
PERCENTAGE OF RUSSIANS WITH INCOMES LOWER THAN SUBSISTENCE LEVEL DROPPED

MOSCOW, October 31, 2002 /from RIA Novosti correspondent Andrei Malosolov/ -- The share of the Russian population with incomes lower than the subsistence level has come down from 33 percent to 30 percent in the past nine months. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov spoke about it on Thursday at the session of the government.

"The level of poverty is still high but it is decreasing, though not as rapidly as we would like," said the Prime Minister.

Summing up the results of the economic development in Russia in the past nine months, Mikhail Kasyanov nevertheless pointed out positive tendencies - the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has gone up by four percent, the industrial growth also equals four percent, and the real incomes of the population have increased by seven percent.

As the Prime Minister said, the incomes of the population have grown more than the government forecast.

Mikhail Kasyanov stated that the rouble exchange rate was developing according to the scenario forecast by the Central Bank and the government, and that the hard currency reserves had increased up to 45 billion roubles. The Prime Minister added that only three years ago the hard currency reserves of Russia amounted to merely 12 billion dollars. He also pointed out a decrease in the capital outflow and an increase in the amount of medium-term credits in industry from 10 to 27 percent.