Alexei Kudrin, Russia's finance minister, cited these figures at a Cabinet session, when summing up the implementation of the last year's budget.
According to his data, Russia's state debt decreased by 237 billion rubles by the end of 2004.
Alexei Kudrin also said that people's incomes rose by 8.4% last year, though the government-projected rise was not to exceed 8.1%. By the year-end results, the ruble/US dollar exchange rate was 28.8 rubles per dollar, whereas early in the year it was estimated at 31.3 rubles per dollar.
Alexei Kudrin pointed out that by the 2004 year-end results Russia's gold and hard currency reserves increased by $47.5 billion. In his words, this increase was largely due to the world's high oil prices.
To quote him, "At the beginning of 2004, we projected the world's average oil prices at $22 per barrel, but in the final count the prices rose to $34 per barrel. This increased the inflow of hard currency into the country and the balance of payments, with the resulting increase in the country's gold and hard currency reserves by $47.5 billion."
According to the Central Bank's data, Russia's gold and hard currency reserves amounted to $124.5 billion as of December 31, 2004, and to $145 billion as of May 13, 2005.
