|
Russia offers rescue plan for its Car Industry |
|
|
|
|
Friday, 05 March 2010 |
|
The government unveiled a plan to invest almost 20 billion dollars over the next decade to transform the embattled Russian car industry into a major global player.
"Our end goal is to have in this country a modern auto industry which includes the whole supply chain up to the end product," Putin said, according to a transcript of his remarks on the Russian government's website.
"We need to work hard to make the national auto industry more competitive," he added.
Russia's auto market, before the global financial crisis considered having the best growth prospects in Europe, shrunk 49 percent in 2009. It has begun to stabilize but in January, it was still down 37 percent compared with a year earlier.
Worst hit by the crisis has been Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz, builder of the Lada car and employer of more than 100,000 people, which officials admit has been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the crisis.
|
