Putin to Back $162 Billion Spending Spree for New Term
- Plan would boost outlays on health, education, infrastructure
- Kremlin sets biggest expenditure increase since 2012 campaign
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Vladimir Putin is planning a roughly 10 trillion-ruble ($162 billion) increase in spending on health care, education and infrastructure, hoping to kick-start sputtering economic growth in his new presidential term, according to people familiar with the plans.
The Russian president is expected to formalize the six-year plan in a decree to be signed just after his May 7 inauguration, laying out plans for the “decisive breakthrough” in raising living standards that he called for in his annual state-of-the-nation speech in March, these people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t yet public.