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- "In October, the leadership of the Ministry of Finance will receive a salary in digital rubles"
"In October, the leadership of the Ministry of Finance will receive a salary in digital rubles"
The Ministry of Finance will begin mass implementation of the digital ruble itself — in October, deputy ministers and department directors will receive their salaries for the first time. This was stated to "Izvestia" by First Deputy Finance Minister Irina Okladnikova. If the experiment is successful, they promise to scale up the practice. At the same time, several government contracts have already been digitized, and the government has received the right to use it in projects with a large number of subcontractors. What payments will be converted into digital rubles next, how the government will track expenses and whether AI will leave work for employees of the Ministry of Finance — in an interview with Irina Okladnikova "Izvestia".
"We have conducted several contracts in digital rubles"
— Since September, the digital ruble has been massively introduced in Russia, but this process started much earlier for the budget. What are the first results of this work?
— Indeed, this is an important area. We've been working on it for a long time: we've been preparing information systems, synchronizing with the Central Bank. For us, this is an opportunity to use smart contracts, ensure the traceability of funds and strengthen control. In the context of various economic changes, this is, of course, very important.
As of today, we have conducted several contracts in digital rubles. In addition, the government has received the right to make decisions on the transfer of individual payments to this form. For example, if a new facility appears with a large number of subcontractors and it is necessary to track all the movements of funds, then such a contract can be converted into digital rubles.
Now this is a temporary norm stipulated by the specifics of budget execution for the current year. However, we are discussing with the State Duma the possibility of consolidating the relevant authority of the government on a permanent basis — directly in the Budget Code. A decision can be made in cases where standard treasury monitoring and control procedures are insufficient to ensure full traceability.
There is also a second direction. As early as October, the leadership of the Ministry of Finance will receive salaries to the accounts of the digital ruble. If the experiment is successful, and we are sure of it, we will start scaling it up.
— Will receiving a salary in digital rubles be voluntary?
- of course. We have always said that the transition to a new form of currency can only be voluntary.
"The main task is to keep the voluntary nature and not complicate the procedures"
— What budget payments are planned to be converted into digital rubles next?
— There are such plans, but we approach them carefully. The main task is to keep the voluntary nature and not complicate the procedures. It is necessary that the interests of the State and the recipient remain balanced. Moreover, the recipient is not always a business. There are individuals and small businesses, and for them the new rules should not go beyond comfort either.
— What will change in the work of the state and in the lives of budget recipients after the expansion of the use of the digital ruble?
— The simplification from the introduction of the digital ruble should be felt primarily by the state, due to new traceability procedures. The goal is to increase budget efficiency. The less abuse there is, the higher the result: help reaches exactly the person who really needs it.
"Payment by card and digital ruble are almost the same thing"
— Then the more human question is: why would an ordinary person need a digital ruble? Bank cards are already available, the benefits for the state are more or less clear. And for a citizen, what is it?
— This is another way of calculating. For citizens and legal entities, it will become an additional guarantee of the safety of funds. The procedures of the Bank of Russia will be added to the standard treasury control and monitoring. This is a double guarantee of safety and, most importantly, the targeted spending of the requested funds.
— There is a concern that the digital ruble will allow people to be monitored. How justified is it?
— Don't worry. Payment by card and digital ruble are almost the same thing.
"We have simplified procedures that could previously be influenced by the human factor"
— Another big trend is the massive introduction of artificial intelligence. Last year, we talked about using AI in the budget process. How is this work developing and how have neural networks especially helped the Ministry of Finance this year?
— What we used to do together with the federal authorities for three or four working days, now takes seconds. We have introduced a large number of budget classification codes. Previously, agencies waited several days for a decision after submitting an application, but now they immediately see the position of the Ministry of Finance through an AI agent. The number of calls to the technical service has also decreased.
In other words, we have simplified procedures that previously could have been influenced by the human factor, and whenever possible, we are facilitating the budget process by automating individual areas. We will continue, because it really benefits.
— Where exactly is artificial intelligence useful? Can it find unaccounted-for income and expenses or identify errors?
— Let's start with income. Previously, the forecast consisted of the positions of the tax and customs services, administrators of smaller receipts, as well as the opinion of the Ministry of Finance on the data provided by them.
Now the assessment is either supported or refuted by artificial intelligence calculations. The machine uses algorithms based on retrospective data analysis. If the results differ, it means that either there is a problem in the initial information, or the main administrators underestimate the forecast because they look at the situation more pessimistically.
As for the costs, the system immediately finds a backup. This year we had about 10 thousand expense lines. In addition, AI identifies discrepancies between specific expenses and top-level indicators. Now every budget expenditure is, in fact, linked to an indicator from the national plan.
"There is an approved plan for the implementation of AI"
— Do you plan to further expand the use of AI? If so, for what purposes?
— We plan to extend AI to all income and expenditure operations that are repeatable and can be unified or standardized. We see great potential here to reduce the burden not only on employees of the Ministry of Finance, but also on the main managers of funds, on all federal agencies.
There is an approved AI implementation plan. Its execution is monitored at the government level. One of the main tasks is to reduce the number of manual checks and switch them to automatic mode. At the same time, it is important not to identify the violation after the fact, but to prevent it.
Another direction is to unify reporting and directly link each indicator to a specific expense. Finally, it is necessary to automate the preparation of reports so that regions, legal entities and individuals who somehow come into contact with budget funds fill out less manually. Currently, the main work covers procurement and the entire chain of budget revenues and expenses.
— Are you ready to entrust forecasts to artificial intelligence?
— Only as a second opinion, the same as now. In addition to standard calculations and algorithms, forecasts are influenced by political, geopolitical, and economic factors. A machine is not yet able to take them into account as quickly as a human.
"AI does not replace specialists, but frees them from typical functions"
— Should employees of the Ministry of Finance be afraid for their future and jobs because of such an active introduction of neural networks?
— AI does not replace specialists, but frees them from typical functions. This leaves more time for complex analytics.
Everything that can be entrusted to a machine without loss of quality must be entrusted to it, and only control or subsequent verification must be left to the person. Analytics, working with big data, their interpretation, conclusions, prerequisites and plans should remain at the level of human intelligence.
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