President of Russia : Working meeting with Murmansk Region Governor Marina Kovtun

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon. Let us take a look at the situation in the region.

Murmansk Region Governor Marina Kovtun Kovtun MarinaGovernor of Murmansk Region : Mr President, I would like to start with our performance in 2016 and the current situation in the region.

The results of our socioeconomic performance last year are evidence of economic stability, and some indicators point to positive trends.

We can report industrial production growth for the second year running. 2016 yearend growth will be 2 percent year on year, mostly due to our mining and metals sectors.

Investment in fixed capital has increased 20 percent up to 48.2 billion rubles for the first 10 months of the past year. Corporate revenues have increased 50 percent and freight turnover 12 percent.

According to estimates, our 2016 gross regional product increased by more than 0.4 percent. Industrial production and transportation companies account for almost half of the gross added value and over 60 percent of extra-budgetary investment.

Large industrial companies, which we see as our flagship companies, form the basis of the region's economic stability. These include the Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company of Norilsk Nickel, PhosAgro's mining and processing company Apatit, and [Eurochem's] Kovdorsky GOK mining and processing. Thanks to these companies tax revenue has increased by over 13.5 percent and we have used these funds to reach our priority goals.

One goal was to raise wages in the public sector, which we increased by 6.2 percent on October 1. We have also decreased the Murmansk Region's sovereign debt and so reduced our debts. According to the federal Ministry of Finance, the Murmansk Region is a region with a high quality of management. We are proud of this evaluation.

We had a deficit-free budget in 2016 and plan to have a minor budget surplus of 70 million rubles in 2017.

We reduced our sovereign debt to 41 percent from 46 percent in 2015 and the commercial part of our sovereign debt from 67 to 53 percent. This year, we will continue working to increase the efficiency of our budgetary spending, that is, the use of budgetary funds.

To be continued.