Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 850 - 826 Bargaining

Chapter 850: Chapter 826 Bargaining

Seeing both numbers, especially the latter one, Wang Ye’s brows furrowed.

It wasn’t that he found it too much, but rather too little!

2.5 trillion Rubles, at the current exchange rate, with the US dollar to Ruble rate at 31:1, that’s roughly eighty billion US dollars...

For such a major power, to only have eighty billion US dollars in finance expenditures for the entire year, to be honest, seemed rather "pitiful"!

Especially when compared to other major powers, the United States had an annual finance revenue of 1.78 trillion US dollars in 2003, with finance expenditures reaching an astonishing 2.16 trillion US dollars!

Running a deficit of nearly four hundred billion US dollars...

Just the shortfall alone amounted to five times of Russia’s, how could they even compare?

Alright, the United States is a unique existence, the number one power worldwide, so you can’t compare with it.

Then let’s take a look at countries of a similar "rank".

An Asian major power’s finance expenditures in 2003 were two and a half trillion CNY, which is about eight hundred billion US dollars, ten times that of Russia!

You don’t know until you compare, and once you do, it’s startling.

The finance expenditures of other major powers were all more generous than that of Russia.

The significance of this finance expenditure is extremely great!

To put it simply, this budget decides the income of all personnel in the national institutions for the following year, which is a big issue related to people’s livelihood.

On a larger scale, the country’s investment in military, scientific research, people’s wellbeing, public safety, education, healthcare, and so on, all depend on this amount.

It’s a simple truth, take healthcare for example, if you’re not willing to invest money in it, and doctors and nurses can’t make a living out of their salaries, then who would want to continue working?

Even if they do continue to work out of no choice, you can imagine what their attitude would be like.

Without people, can the healthcare system still function normally?

It’s the same principle with other industries, education, public safety, scientific research...

If you’re not willing to invest, then it will never improve!

Therefore, Wang Ye believed that this number must be increased, otherwise, the difficulties of various industries would remain unchanged!

However, to change finance expenditures, one must convince everyone that the finance revenue for the following year will also increase significantly.

After all, there are not many countries that dare to live beyond their means every year as the United States does, earning more and spending even more!

Because as a unique existence, even if there are problems, it’s the people from the whole world who "pick up the tab" for them, so they can afford to disregard their debts.

But Russia doesn’t have that privilege and doesn’t dare to try...

They have to make sure that each year’s finance expenditures are controlled under the finance revenue, not exceeding it, not creating debt.

......

How much exactly was Russia’s finance revenue in 2004?

Wang Ye tried hard to recall but couldn’t remember it...

After all, he wasn’t an economic expert in his previous life, just an ordinary person, and even after having spent several years in Russia, he wouldn’t concern himself with the annual finance revenue of the country.

However, Wang Ye roughly knew that before 2014, before Crimea was "taken back", Russia’s economy had always been rapidly developing.

This was also benefited from the dramatic rise in international crude oil prices!

Assuming that, for the fiscal year 2004, Russia’s GDP growth rate was 8%, a rather conservative estimate already,

Then the finance revenue could reach 2.8 trillion Rubles, and as for the expenditures...

Wang Ye wanted to change it to 3 trillion Rubles, which is one hundred billion US dollars.

As the Russian economy gradually improved, the Ruble exchange rate was also slowly rising, at least stabilizing around 30:1, right?

Wang Ye had only seen a Ruble to US dollar rate of 24:1 when he first arrived in Moscow.

But how to persuade government officials to agree with his idea?

Wang Ye instructed Rossiyana, "Call the Finance Minister, invite him to my office, tell him there are some issues concerning the financial report I’d like to discuss with him. By the way, what’s our Finance Minister’s name?"

He seldom interacted with government officials, so he didn’t know the Finance Minister’s name...

Rossiyana naturally knew and immediately answered, "Kuderin, and he also holds the position of Vice President L!"

This revealed the status of the Finance Minister...

But it was of little use, in terms of rank, Kuderin was still half a step below Wang Ye.

Normally, Kuderin might consider himself as non-interfering with Wang Ye and not pay too much attention to the Vice Speaker, but when it came to approving the finance budget, then Wang Ye could easily get a grip on him!

Rossiyana nodded, picked up the landline on the office desk, and dialed a number directly.

After a brief exchange, she hung up the phone and turned to Wang Ye saying, "I asked him to come at two o’clock this afternoon."

Wang Ye nodded, didn’t say anything, and continued to bury his head in studying the two documents.

.........

After having lunch and resting briefly, drinking a cup of coffee, he continued with his work.

Russians didn’t have the habit of taking a siesta, besides it was December, people weren’t as sleepy as they were during summer.

At two o’clock sharp, under the guidance of his assistant Yelena, Kuderin entered Wang Ye’s office.

Kuderin, just over forty, serving as both Vice President L and Finance Minister, held significant power and was quite spirited!

He was thin, with black-grey short hair, a fair complexion, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, he looked refined, like a university professor.

Looking at his appearance, he probably had Jewish ancestry...

"Boss, Mr. Kuderin has arrived," Yelena reported softly.