A Report on the Allocation of Ministry Funds During the 9th Planning Period
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A Report on the Allocation of Ministry Funds During the 9th Five Year Plan
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| Infrastructure | Heavy Industry | Rocketry | LI | CI | Agriculture | Services |
| 1970 | 9.29% | 35.21% | 0.00% | 11.82% | 29.34% | 8.80% | 5.54% |
| 1971 | 12.53% | 42.83% | 0.00% | 6.58% | 24.43% | 7.52% | 6.11% |
| 1972 | 10.87% | 34.78% | 0.00% | 15.65% | 24.49% | 3.77% | 10.43% |
| 1973 | 9.86% | 30.54% | 0.00% | 12.65% | 29.52% | 5.31% | 12.11% |
| 1974 | 16.31% | 26.34% | 0.00% | 11.57% | 29.78% | 9.60% | 6.40% |
| TOTAL | 11.95% | 33.47% | 0.00% | 11.74% | 27.63% | 7.02% | 8.20% |
Authored by Vladimir Fedorovich Balakirev, Head of the MNKh
Published January 9th 1975
In light of the previous plan's shortcomings in the provision of heavy industry, political agitation towards achieving energy independence and the increasing importance of the chemical industry as one of the pillars of economic development, this plan has naturally prioritized these sectors in an attempt to bring Soviet industry into modernity through intensive development. The goal of developing high technology industries in the automotive and electronic sectors has borne fruit, allowing for a new generation of consumer products to be developed, and progress in bridging the gap in petrochemical extraction and refinement has been significant. However setbacks in foreign policy have undermined those efforts somewhat, as a policy of heavy tariffs and the limitation of technical exports to the Union being implemented by the new American government have imposed limitations in the import of next generation equipment and expertise. To that end, the development of trade ties with the rest of the developed economies, increased development of local technologies and a more permissive internal regime on the acquisition of intellectual property has become paramount.
This plan's biggest beneficiary in terms of funds allocated has been the heavy industrial sector, with a level of investment not seen since the fifth five year plan. Priority has been given to the development of the semiconductor industry, with the efforts culminating in achieving scale production of units in the 6 micrometer node and the start of the transition into solid state circuits. Progress has also been made with the modernization of the automotive, tooling and shipbuilding industries. More notable, the heavy dependence on coal for energy supply has led to the extensive development of coal deposits, with limited avenues for increased economic production. This in turn has lead to the Ministry pursuing bold new avenues in alternative energy sources, the highlight of which has been the atomic energy program. The founding of a massive new facility in Rostov has not only provided almost a hundred thousand well paying jobs and revitalized the local economy, but has provided new horizons to electricity production, with the promise of 12 VVER-1000 cores being produced every year, effectively enough to supply a quarter of new demand.
Following the split in the light and chemical industry department, the chemical industrial sector has followed the heavy industrial one in receiving budgetary priority. About a quarter of funding has been utilized in providing for the steady increased in the production of plastics, agrochemicals and synthetic rubber to feed the engines of the national economy. With the foundation of the Saratov plant and the import of American expertise, strides have been made in increasing the sophistication of petrochemical extraction and refinement. The application of new techniques in the exploitation of new fields in the West Siberian basin and the modernization of extractive infrastructure in previously developed ones has consistently increased output. Additionally, with the massive demands on the power grid following high industrial growth and ever increasing amounts of natural gas being taken out of the ground, combined cycle gas plants have been built to account for shortfalls, providing an important alternative to the strained coal sector. Despite all these successes however, extraction of petroleum is beggining to reach its limits, and despite record setting increases in production, demand is almost certain to outpace it. Furthermore, cheap oil from the Middle East has overcome Soviet imports in the European CMEA market, setting a worrying trend in outsorcing energy from out of the bloc, undermining energy independence and exposing it to shocks in demand.
Investments in infrastructure have decreased, but the sector has remained an important part of the budget, receiving the third highest amount of funding. The housing program has continued to receive steady investment, water and sewage links have been expanded upon, and the development of a main electrified rail trunk has been completed. The western high speed rail network has also been expanded to connect areas of industrial importance, and a new highway has been constructed to connect Siberia and the Far East to the new road network. More notably, a great focus was put on the expansion of airport infrastructure throught the whole Union. These new airports have connected isolated areas and drastically cut travel times. Allowing for a week long trip from Moscow to important cities in the Far East to be cut down to mere hours. Already, a significant increase in business travel has been noted, and important administrative affairs can be conducted much more swiftly. Efforts have also been made in improving the bureaucracy, with a ministry wide program of modernization through the issuance of more computing units and the introduction of tabletop calculators, considerably lowering overhead despite high initial capital costs and cutting down on human erros. This program of modernization has also been extended to academic institution, with a computing network being set up between several universities and institutes.
Matching investments in infrastructure, light industry has proved important in the provisioning of consumer goods, both through direct production of finished goods and in producing the feedstocks necessary for their manufacture, though not enough to counteract the lacking investment in the automotive sector's in regards to the failure in achieving the targets set for the ministry. Increased competition from foreign enterprises in more durable, high quality products has begun to show itself, particularly in regards to home appliances. As such, increased funding was provided for enterprises to expand production and produce new, more competitive product. Air conditioning production has increased significantly, meeting the needs of the housing program. The development of engineered woods has also created opportunities in the development of new cheaper and lighter furniture products and with new synthetic fabrics entering the market, opportunities have also opened up to move away from cotton and the creation of new enterprises focused on utilizing them for a new generation of cheap clothing. Furthermore, with the foundation of a supply chain for semiconductors being established, significant opportunities have been opened up in the domain of consumer electronics, efforts in breaching this market have been dominated by new, compact calculators, but several new products have been introduced internationally and can be produced locally with some effort.
With the increased focus on the industrial sectors, the services have somewhat fallen to the wayside, receiving second to last in budgetary priority. A misguided drive for the expansion of childcare early in the plan created difficulties in fulfilling the targets assigned by the Council of Ministers, culminating in a failure to do so. Despite the relative lack of political importance of the sector, efforts must still be made to not repeat this failure in order to avoid further embarassments to the Ministry. Nonetheless, some important projects were completed during this five year plans. Most important of which was the significant expansion of road based transport, allowing for businesses to expand their reach, decrease costs and connect the Union. Aditionally, general stores and petrol stations have both increased the quality of life and created jobs in smaller settlements and served to service both trucks and agricultural equipment locally. Furthermore, enterprises have been established to supply grocers with easy to store and high demand food products.
In light of the achievements of the previous plan, the agricultural sector was afforded the least resources in the budget. However, this figure is slightly deceptive in that significant efforts in the chemical industry to supply ever increasing amounts of fertilizer and other agrochemicals have been made, as well as infrastructure projects aimed at solving hydrological issues inherent to much of Soviet agriculture. This has allowed for yields to consistently increase, and with the potential advent of river reversal, Soviet agriculture faces the prospect of decisively breaking from the constraints nature has imposed on it. Despite all this, much funding and effort has been put into improving water usage through improved irrigation techniques and moving away from more water intensive crops in Central Asia in favor of more forgiving vegetable and fruit crops. Aditionally, great strides have been made in the production of meat products, which are always in great demand.
