If the Reserve Fund continues to be spent to cover the Federal budget deficit at the current rate, then in 2017 the Fund is exhausted, reports TASS with reference to Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Lavrov.
According to him, in 2016, the Finance Ministry expects to hold the budget deficit at the level of 3.2% of GDP, but in 2017, when the Reserve Fund is exhausted, to Finance the budget deficit will have the expense of the national welfare Fund (NWF).
Only in August 2016, the amount accumulated in the Reserve Fund decreased by 18.4%, of the budget deficit was spent 390 billion. In August, the Ministry of Finance has used the Reserve Fund to cover the budget deficit for the third time since the beginning of 2016.
According to the Finance Ministry, by early September, the Reserve Fund was left of 2.09 trillion rubles., that is, from the beginning of the year its volume has decreased by more than 1.5 trillion rubles. Most of this amount (about 1.2 trillion rubles) is the cost of financing the budget deficit, the rest is a result of foreign exchange revaluation of foreign currency assets of the Fund.
According to the Bank of Russia until the end of 2016 from the Reserve Fund to cover the budget deficit will be spent 1.2 trillion rubles By the end of the year in the Reserve Fund will be approximately 900 billion rubles, if the ruble strengthened — even less. Reuters with reference to the preparation of a draft budget for 2017-2019 in July, wrote that at the end of 2016 the Reserve Fund will be 980 billion rubles, which will be exhausted in 2017.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov in an interview in June said that in 2017 the government could use for budgetary purposes, the resources of the NWF. “Next year we have the budget plan will be about 1 trillion rubles of the Reserve Fund, and if we need to attract additional resources from our reserves, I don’t see any risk if we are part of the funds remaining from the national wealth Fund, not used for projects used for financing the budget deficit. But again, the airbag, which will be kept in highly liquid assets should remain because it is the stability of our financial and budgetary system”, — Siluanov said.
In the NWF, according to the Finance Ministry, at the beginning of September was 4,719 trillion To 60% of the Fund’s assets, the government can invest in infrastructure projects. The remaining part is the tools that can be used as a Reserve Fund to Finance the unbalanced budget,” Siluanov said.
Lavrov also said how much it will save the budget as a result of the replacement of the second in 2016 and the indexation of pensions paid to pensioners 5 thousand. “If we are indexed, it would have created a database, and there would be a cumulative scale, which is measured, even after three years, 300-400 billion rubles. It would be additional costs”, — said the Deputy Minister.
