Basic Concepts of Russia’s Fiscal Policy: Experience for China Part 2

Financial activities are the government’s material means of leveraging financial resources, maintaining the exercise of political power and achieving administrative goals through financial revenues and expenditures. Successive administrations have been learning lessons from their predecessors, exploring the government’s financial goals in response to Russia’s severe economic and social problems and constantly adjusting themselves according to the changing situation. These goals include privatization and property right reform (expansion of the financial base), transfer payment and redistribution (consolidation of the public base of the regime), economic regulation (stimulation of economic growth, exchange rate stability, reduction of inflation, and tax neutrality), and the guarantee of financial security (budget balance and expansion of reserves), which have gradually led to a set of relatively stable financial rules in the years. The first part analyzes the activities of seven prime ministers during the Putin era. The second part examines the fiscal policy of Russia over the past 20 years.