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Kommersant daily commented that
the distribution of the posts in the new government resembles that of 2008, when Putin sat one presidential term out, taking the prime minister’s job in the government and passing the presi- dency to Medvedev. "This [government] composition [is] to go with the flow," an unnamed federal official told the Bell.
Most notably, Medvedev is entrusted with implementing the 2024 presiden- tial development strategy signed by Putin the same day as he took up the
reforms and improving the investment climate," Vladimir Tikhomirov of BCS Global Market wrote on May 8.
The decree signed this May 7 consolidates 12 national development programmes designed to better the lives of ordinary Rus- sians, and have confirmed previously raised concerns as potentially yielding massive state spending with no clear target, imple- mentation goals, or funding sources.
Tikhomirov added that the decree leaves more questions than answers, including
and urban development, international cooperation and exports, labour produc- tivity, SMEs, roads and infrastructure, ecology, digital economy, science and culture.
Among the ambitious goals that the implementation of the programmes should achieve is making Russia one of the top five largest economies globally by 2024. The criteria are not specified, Gazeta.ru commented, noting that in terms of nominal GDP Russia currently ranks 13th and in terms of total purchas- ing power parity 6th (following China, US, India, Japan, and Germany).
Other goals include extending the life expectancy in Russia to 78 years by 2024 from the current 71 and to 80 years by 2030, halving the number of people in poverty, keeping productivity growth at 5%, and maintaining GDP growth at a pace faster than global.
The need to make a "breakthrough" diversifying away from a hydrocarbon focused economy to radically improve the quality of life and break the ranks of global economic powers is the recycled nutshell message that has been repeated by Putin for over a decade.
At the same time the new decree continues to suggest no clear or viable means to finance the set goals or radical economic reforms, thereby increasing uncertainty for the incoming govern- ment. bne IntelliNews has covered this topic of the reforms in Russia in a series of interviews and podcasts.
“The populist tone of the new 'May decree' signed by Putin disappointed those who expected the Kremlin to move actively towards structural reforms”
new term, which is the reincarnation of infamous May decrees signed following his return to the presidency in 2012.
While Putin ran his campaign with no coherent election message, confirm- ing previous reports that the Kremlin was struggling to consolidate an eco- nomic and social development vision in pre-election years, the new decree was introduced with a populist title "Russia for the People" (Rossiya – dlya lyudey).
"The populist tone of the new 'May decree' signed by Putin disappointed those, who like us, expected the Kremlin to move actively towards structural
the financing plan of ambitious goals, while omitting the changes in the spheres seen by investors and markets as crucial for Russian economy, such as state-busi- ness relations, property protection, judi- cial reform, taxation, and higher efficiency and transparency for state companies.
The Russian Audit Chamber previously warned that the new decree could cost about RUB8 trillion to implement, while government sources told the press in April it could be closer to RUB10 trillion ($162bn).
Development programs include health- care, education, demographics, housing
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Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn Jaroslav Hroch in Prague
Avast, which owns the popular consumer antivirus company AVG, will apply to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the hope of raising $200mn (CZK4.1bn) in primary proceeds from an IPO, the Czech-founded company announced on April 12.
See page 2
St Petersburg's start-up scene flourishes on high talent and low costs
Contents
Avast to enter London bourse
in bid to raise up to $1bn 1 Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn 2 St Petersburg's start-up scene
flourishes on high talent and low costs 3 Romania entrepreneur aims to put home-grown UAV defence technology industry on the map 6
FinTech
Russia's mobile major MTS increases stake in Ozon to 16.7% 9
Blockchain
Romanian startups at the heart
of blockchain energy trading rally 10
Central Europe
Russian-Lithuanian startup Gosu.ai
raises $1.9mn from Russian and
French investors 13
Eurasia
Iran hit by cyber attack that left US
flag on screens 14 Iranian government set to block hugely popular Telegram messaging app 15 Iran's black market phone disconnection drive pushes up legal mobile imports 15
Eastern Europe
Internet catches up with TV on Russian
ad market 17 Sales of connected appliances jump
in Russia 17 Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 18 Russia ranks second in the world
for digital piracy 18 Russian messaging service Telegram raised another $850mn with ICO 19
Southeast Europe
Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 20
The Regions This Month 21
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