OREANDA-NEWSEstimates of the government’s financial assistance package range from 1.8% to 2.8% of GDP, but direct measures to support the economy make up only 0.3% of GDP, according to economists at Alfa Bank’s Center for Macroeconomic Analysis.

The government does not get along well with the idea of direct distribution of money to the population and small enterprises, the authorities prefer indirect support measures, while limiting them to the list of affected industries that they themselves have chosen, said Alexander Suslin, head of the fiscal policy department of the Economic Expert Group.

Russian economists agree that the volume of anti-crisis support for the economy should be brought up to 4–6% of GDP in the conservative scenario or 8–10% in the radical.