<DIV>2003 RUSSIAN GDP REACHED 79% OF PRE-REFORM LEVEL MOSCOW, 12 April (RIA Novosti)-A report, "The Macroeconomic Situation in Russia for the 1999-2003 period and early 2004", published on the Russian Government's Web site on Monday, shows that the country's GDP exceeded the 1993 level and real incomes of the population the 1994 level. The report's authors took the base levels of comparison for 100% as the pre-reform 1990 GDP level. In comparison, 2003 GDP reached 79.4%, whereas in 1993 the figure was 74.2%. The lowest level of GDP since the start of reforms came in 1998 and was 57.5% against 1990. Real household incomes showed similar dynamics, though a year behind. In 2003, they reached 60.8% of the 1990 level, whereas in 1994 the figure was 60.1%. The minimum of 39.8% was established in 1999. The report points to the positive GDP dynamics over the last three years. If between 1996 and 1999, GDP fell by an average of 0.4% per a year, then from 2000 to 2003, it grew by an average of 6.8%. Real household incomes between 1996 and 1999 fell by an average of 5.8%, whereas from 2000 to 2003, the trend was positive: annual growth was 11.3%. Unemployment in the country, according to government statistics, has changed: in 1996-1999 the number of people seeking work grew by an annual average of 32.6%; since 2000, the annual average of those out of work has fallen by 29.4%. The number of people living below the subsistence minimum was 32.3 million (22% of the overall population) in 1996, 41.9 million (28.9%) in 2000 and 29 million (20.4%) at the start of this year. Inflation has gradually fallen in the last three years. In December 2000, it stood at 20.2%, in December 2001 18.6%, while for December 2002 and 2003, the figure was 15.1% and 12%, respectively. In 1997, 1998 and 1999, inflation stood as 21.8%, 84.4% and 36.5%, respectively. The monetarization of the Russian economy, which means the use of cash, checks and small investments in GDP stood at 14.4% in 1997, 11.4% in 1999, and 15.1% in 2002 and 8.8% in 2003. </DIV> <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - <a href="http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html">File online by April 15th</a>