A third of the 1.2 trillion rubles ($38.6 billion), put aside by the Russian government for anti-crisis measures during the economic downturn, was spent inefficiently, Russian daily Vedomosti said on Tuesday, citing research carried out by a Russian think-tank.
The Centre for Development found Russia's economic downturn (of 7.9% per year) was only partly caused by a decrease in demand and mainly resulted from a reduction in surplus stocks.
"Supporting demand could not have been effective: the industry decreased its output regardless," the draft report said.
The research revealed that almost all of the 92 billion rubles ($2.9 billion) spent on stimulating demand was spent on supporting the state-run Russia Railways company and procuring state vehicles.
The draft report said 360 billion rubles ($11.6 billion) was allocated to the capital stocks of several Russian banks. Total direct financial aid to the banking system, which was also supported by the Central Bank, reached 7.6% of GDP ($96.6 billion), although public lending fell by 11%.
Only 248 billion rubles ($8 billion) was allocated to the real sector (subsidy rates on loans) and supporting the labor market.
The research was conducted to serve "governmental purposes" and is currently only available in draft form, Vedomosti quoted Deputy Head of the Center for Development Valery Mironov as saying.
MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti)
