Putin sets government main task of ensuring social stability

Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with government members at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow January 21, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - Russian government's top priority is to secure internal social stability, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

Speaking at a meeting with the ministers and Central Bank's head, Putin said the anti-crisis plan should ensure acceptable pace of inflation, controllable level of foreign debt and keeping existing reserves.

"The plan must guarantee social stability. But that could be achieved only if the acceptable economic parameters are preserved, " Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying.

The president stressed that only microeconomic stability could attract private investors. He also said the federal budget will have to be optimized using the experience of 2008 financial crisis.

Putin ordered the plan to be submitted to the parliament within a week.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for the swift passage of an anti-crisis package, for which the government allocated 1.375 trillion rubles (about $21 billion) to help the country weather the current economic hardship.

The plan will focus mainly on enhancing economic growth, supporting certain industrial sectors and ensuring social stability, said Medvedev.