Russian President Signed Budget Draft

President Vladimir Putin signed Wednesday the 2007 federal draft budget law, the Kremlin news service said.

The law was adopted by the State Duma, the lower house, November 24 and approved by the Federation Council, the upper house, December 8.

Under the new budget, revenues are expected at 6,965.3 billion rubles ($262 billion), and spending is set at 5,463.5 billion rubles ($206 billion). That will put the budget surplus at 1,502 billion rubles ($56.54 billion).

GDP will be 31.22 trillion rubles ($1.17 trillion), and inflation is expected to be 6.5-8%. The average annual ruble rate against the dollar is expected to be 26.50 rubles to the dollar, and the oil price for the Urals crude blend is forecast at $61 per barrel.

The government also intends to allocate extra resources to the Federal targeted program for Russian civil aviation development until 2015.

A total of 2.8 million rubles ($105,000) rubles have been earmarked from the budget to support former president Boris Yeltsin, who resigned December 31, 1999.