Finance minister estimates 2010 GDP growth

Russia's GDP growth may amount to 2-3 percent in 2010, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists today. He believes that the crisis will be over "when private demand starts to increase." Therefore, the government must devote all of its efforts to this purpose. Kudrin pointed out that private demand could be hiked up by cutting taxes and expenditures (in terms of state regulated tariffs), as well as by decreasing macroeconomic risks and bringing down administrative barriers. The minister stressed that government demand must not result in higher macroeconomic risks or deficit, adding that budget deficit was expected to go down to 5 percent of GDP in 2010 and 3 percent of GDP in 2011. Kudrin underlined that the government's participation in the economy "must not hurt the private sector."