Amid a global liquidity crunch, Russian monetary and financial authorities are seeking to pump more money into the economy to maintain the rapid growth seen over the past few years.
"We discussed measures together with the banking community and the Central Bank that will be required and used this year to maintain the banking sector's liquidity, and to ensure the necessary rates of the Russian economy's crediting and support for economic growth," Alexei Kudrin said at a meeting of the Russian president with the Cabinet.
In the past five years, the Russian economy has grown at an annual rate of above 7%, except for 2005, when GDP expanded 6.4%. In 2006, GDP grew 7.4%.
According to Russia's State Statistics Service, the country's GDP grew 8.1% in 2007.
Kudrin said in February that Russia's GDP could grow by 7% in 2008 instead of the planned 6.6%.
