Russian government to provide additional support to RZD in 2015
Published: Fri, 2014-12-12 16:00The Russian government has not ruled out the possibility of the provision of additional state support to the national railway carrier RZD in 2015, according to Maxim Sokolov Russia’s Transport Minister.
This will take place despite the fact that freight rates in Russia in 2015 will be indexed by 10% and the provision of subsidies in the volume of RUB 30 billion (US$800 million) to RZD.
According to Sokolov, one of the main reasons of the provision of additional support to RZD is the ever growing inflation in Russia, that will be significantly higher initially planned figures. Sokolov has also added that RZD will also bear additional costs, due to projected increase of prices for metal, fuel and electricity.
It is planned that additional support may be in the form of additional grants or additional indexation of tariffs, while final decision may be taken by the end of the current year.