23 Sep 2009 17:10

Reserve Fund to provide 1.83 trln rubles for 2010 deficit; NWF - 413.5 bln rubles

MOSCOW. Sept 23 (Interfax) - Russia will allocate 1.832 trillion rubles from the Reserve Fund and 413.5 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund to finance the budget deficit in 2010, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said at a briefing following a government session that examined the draft 2010 budget.

Earlier plans called for spending 2.187 trillion rubles from the Reserve Fund and 58.4 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund to cover the 2010 deficit.

Kudrin said the increase in spending from the National Welfare Fund did not mean planned borrowing in 2010 had been reduced. "The borrowings will not be revised," he said.

The decision to use more of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) was made for a number of reasons.

At a briefing on September 15, Kudrin said 58.4 billion rubles would be used from the National Welfare Fund to finance the deficit in 2010, down from 681 billion rubles previously. "The initial proposal was to spend a total of 681 billion rubles. But taking into account the new macroeconomics, the budget revenue we expect, we won't have to dip into the NWF next year," Kudrin had said.

In 2011 the budget will use 762.4 billion rubles from the NWF and 812 billion rubles in 2012.

The Reserve Fund amounted to 2.70682 trillion rubles as of September 1, 2009 and the NWF was at 2.863 trillion rubles.