Deripaska: Cut VAT and stop ruble-strengthening experiment

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - Oleg Deripaska, Russia's sixth-richest man according to Forbes, asked the government Wednesday to cut the value-added tax and stop the experiment to strengthen the ruble.

"As regards VAT reduction, I would like it [this decision] to be adopted," the head of the Basic Element holding company, whose personal wealth is estimated at $7.8 billion, said at a government council on competitiveness and entrepreneurship.

Speaking about ruble strengthening, Deripaska said the country's Central Bank has been carrying out the experiment for five years. "It will result in nothing, inflation is not going down," he said.

Besides, Deripaska said, measures, including legislative ones, were required to fight corruption in big companies. "This infection corrodes the quality of decision making," he said.

Deripaska was the world's 62nd wealthiest man in 2006. He also owns Russian Aluminum, a leading aluminum company. He is a vice-president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and a member of the government council on competitiveness and entrepreneurship.