Russia to redistribute 166 bln rubles in 2013 budget with savings, crisis fund
MOSCOW. April 29 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry is proposing federal budget amendments that would involve the redistribution of 166 billion rubles through savings and the release of funds from the crisis reserve, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters, commenting on amendments considered by the government on Thursday.
"The amendments to this year's budget have been prepared in light of the new macroeconomic development forecast. The distinctions of the amendments are in the fact that we don't have additional oil and gas revenues and we are not dividing them up. This year we won't have oil and gas revenues in excess of the plan, on the contrary we see them declining slightly. But there will an increase in oil and gas revenues due to the upward adjustment of the price of oil," Siluanov said.
The main parameters of the budget - overall revenues, spending and the deficit target - will not be changed.
The main changes involve the redistribution of the existing amount of expenditure obligations thanks to savings in some areas and the unblocking of the crisis reserve of 200 billion rubles, of which 42 billion rubles will be earmarked for higher priority areas than those for which they were slated prior to blocking, Siluanov said.
"Since we believe that as [the 200 billion rubles] were blocked by ministries and agencies, they should have said goodbye to them, because had there been a crisis now we would have redistributed them to support for companies, social support to the public, and now we are saying that of the 200 billion rubles injections into the public utilities and housing fund, a number of national projects and federal special projects remain untouched," the minister said.
The ministry is proposing to redistribute 124 billion rubles through savings, including 50 billion rubles in balances of the Pension Fund of Russia received in 2012 thanks to additional revenues; the reduction of spending on state debt servicing by 16.9 billion rubles; the reduction of spending on government guarantees by 2 billion rubles; and 24.5 billion rubles in savings on social payments linked to inflation, which is now expected to be lower than previously planned, Siluanov said.
The ministry proposes to use 50 billion rubles of the money for preschool education; 42 billion rubles to support agriculture, including 27 billion rubles through saves and 15 from the crisis reserve; and 10 billion rubles to recapitalize Russian Railways (RZD) to support suburban services in the Moscow region. Some money will go toward obligations related to increasing the range of people eligible for social payments. There are also plans to allocate 2.4 billion rubles for the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi; 800 million rubles for maintaining the Mariinsky Theater; and 900 million rubles for the World University Games in Kazan. At the suggestion of the Economic Development Ministry, budget earmarks within the federal targeted investment program is also being redistributed, with funds going primarily toward the construction of an oceanarium in Vladivostok.
Of the 42 billion rubles from the crisis reserve, besides the 15 billion rubles earmarked for agriculture, 10 billion rubles will go to offset RZD losses on long-distance passenger train services, and the remain is earmarked for a number of small projects, such as the water conduit on Russky Island, which will get 1.7 billion rubles.
The Finance Ministry is also proposing to offset lower privatization revenues, which are expected to total 60 billion rubles this year instead of the planned 427 billion rubles, with additional oil and gas revenues. Siluanov said this will not be a violation of the fiscal rule that restricts spending of oil and gas revenues. He said the State Duma recently passed amendments to budget legislation allowing the use of oil and gas revenues if there are no sources for financing the deficit. These oil and gas revenues will not be transferred to the Reserve Fund.
"The fiscal rule sets a ceiling on spending. We are not raising spending, but offsetting lost sources with oil and gas," Siluanov said.
He said 143 billion rubles in additional oil and gas revenues are expected in 2013. Initially there were plans to add 373 billion rubles to the Reserve Fund this year, and with the revised forecast due to the higher projected oil price 516 billion rubles. But since 367 billion rubles of which will now go toward offsetting lose privatization revenues, the Reserve Fund will get 149 billion rubles.
"This is if we don't fulfil plans for privatization. We still hope that we can fulfil them, there have been proposals from the Economic Development Ministry on privatization" Siluanov said.
He said the bill to amend the 2013 budget is to be submitted to the Duma on May 7. "We are planning that the State Duma will be able to consider it by May 25, and the Federation Council should consider it on June 5 so that the amendments can be passed as quickly as possible and the money can be received by administrators of budget funds," Siluanov said.
