Govt freezes Reserve Fund transfers until end 2009
MOSCOW. Oct 8 (Interfax) - The Russian government on October 2 ordered a freeze on the further use of Reserve Fund assets to cover the budget deficit until the end of 2009.
The government capped these transfers at 2.793 trillion rubles in 2009. The Finance Ministry has planned to use 2.821 trillion rubles in Reserve Fund assets to plug the deficit.
The government on July 16 permitted the Finance Ministry to transfer up to 1.357 trillion rubles from the Reserve Fund during the third quarter to balance the budget. The October 2 instruction extends that facility until the end of the year, but the transfer amount is unchanged.
The Finance Ministry used 1.436 trillion rubles of Reserve Fund assets to cover the budget deficit in the first half of 2009.
A total of 2.024 trillion rubles in Reserve Fund assets has been spent on the budget deficit since the start of the year.
The Reserve Fund contained 2.298 trillion rubles ($76.37 billion) as of October 1 and 4.028 trillion rubles on January 1. The Finance Ministry estimates the Reserve Fund will have 1.838 trillion rubles left by the end of 2009.