By Ivan Anderzhanov and Eugene Kasevin.
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin‘s statement that he is unwilling to work in a future Russian government after the presidential elections will dent investor confidence in the country’s fiscal discipline.
Kudrin yesterday ruled himself out of working in the next government, if President Dmitry Medvedev becomes premier, following Vladimir Putin’s return to the top job next March.
Kudrin, a darling of investor for steering the country’s finances through two major financial crashes, said he would be unable to work in the new government to be headed by Medvedev over disagreements in economic policies.
“I do not see myself in a new government. The point is not only that no one has offered me the job. I think that the disagreements I have will not allow me to join the government,” Kudrin told reporters in Washington.
Kudrin, 50, has served as finance minister since 2000, under whom the Russian government has paid most of its substantial foreign debt and created oil wealth funds to help Russia live through the global economic and financial meltdown.
It had been rumoured just months ago that Kudrin would be promoted to prime minister with Sberbank chief executive German Gref moving to finance minister in ‘a dream ticket’ for foreign investors.
Deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov, a close ally of Medvedev, has been tipped now to take over the purse strings as the economy faces falling commodity prices and the possibility of a prolonged global depression.
Kudrin explained that he objected to Medvedev’s approval of a $65bn increase in defense spending over three years. He said the hike would equal Russia’s total expenditure on education at all levels, including universities.
The decisions pose macroeconomic as well budgetary risks, according to Kudrin.
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