Gryzlov nodded without hesitation. "Misha is very confident, and I believe him too. After all, he's the expert when it comes to the energy industry. Besides, none of his predictions have ever been wrong."
Gebliev added from the side, "Misha is trustworthy in this regard. His judgment has always been sharp. Since he dares to conclude that international crude oil and natural gas prices will both rise next year, he must have grounds for it."
Putin nodded slightly and raised no further objections.
Obviously, as chairman of the Yukos Group and a major shareholder in Gazprom Industrial Group, Wang Ye understood energy market trends far better than ordinary people and had access to more information.
Since he said crude oil and natural gas prices would rise sharply next year, that was likely how things would turn out.
As for the government's projected fiscal revenue, it might have been too conservative!
But that was hardly surprising. When setting targets, the government would rather be conservative than set goals that would be difficult—or even impossible—to achieve.
Besides, their current fiscal revenue estimate was already as high as 2.6 trillion Rubles, with GDP growth reaching 7.2%!
That target was indeed not low...
If actual revenue and growth exceeded the target next year, everyone would look good.
If the target was barely met, that would still count as an achievement and proof that the work had been done well.
So there was no need to take the risk of setting a double-digit GDP growth target. That was understandable too.
But Wang Ye was clearly more optimistic about next year's economic development.
Yet he had not touched the government's projected fiscal revenue or GDP growth rate. He had merely raised the fiscal expenditure budget!
It had to be said, the kid was truly crafty!
After