Surplus non-oil revenue can be used in spending - Siluanov
MOSCOW. Sept 20 (Interfax) - Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov supports the idea of using non-oil and gas revenue that exceeds the forecast to fund spending.
"What the Economic Development Minister proposed today coincides with the draft decisions that we submitted to the government to be then presented to the State Duma [as part of amendments to the second reading of the draft bill on budget regulations] regarding some clarification of the budget regulation, bringing it into line with revenues that meet reasonable demands," the minister said.
He said that from next year oil and gas revenue will be defined based on budget regulations and non-oil and gas revenue will be counted as usual and added to oil and gas revenues.
"Thus, if in implementing the budget next year there are surplus non-oil and gas revenues, we think that there are grounds for the government to consider using these revenues in spending," Siluanov said.
This does not infringe on the logic of budget regulation. "On the contrary we think this improves the budget regulation," he said.
"For example, if the Central Bank pays more profit into the budget than envisaged, that profit could be used in spending," the minister said.
