KALUGA (Sputnik) – Federal funding of geological exploration work in Russia will be cut by 5 percent next year, Russian Minister of Natural Resources Sergei Donskoi said Tuesday.
"We envision the reduction of expenses by 5 percent," Donskoi told reporters and added that funding for 2018-19 was not under discussion yet.
In June, the minister forecast 2016 exploration funding from the federal budget to climb by 10 percent to 35.7 billion rubles ($551.4 million at the current exchange rate) from 32.4 billion rubles last year.
