NWF funds totaling 1.5 trln to be allocated for projects in 2021-2024 - Siluanov

MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax) - National Wealth Fund (NWF) resources totaling 1.5 trillion rubles will be spent to support the economy in 2021-2024, going first and foremost to highway development projects, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the Rossiya-24 television channel in an interview.

"The innovation of this year and subsequent years is that we are beginning to use the resources of the National Wealth Fund. We have been accumulating it for a long time, and now the time has come to use it to provide an additional impetus for economic development. We have agreed that over four years, including this year, more than 1.5 trillion rubles from the National Welfare Fund will be used to support the economy because these are major projects, infrastructure projects that create the foundation for economic development. First and foremost, of course, we're talking about roads - highways and railroads. There is a whole range of other projects to support the development of various sectors," Siluanov said.

The Ministry of Finance estimates additional budget revenues at roughly 1.6-1.7 trillion rubles, he said. These revenues will be used to finance a number of decisions made by the president and the government. "This refers to anti-Covid decisions, payments to medical personnel, vaccination, decisions that were made by the president during the presidential address to the Federal Assembly. These are our additional strategic initiatives, new projects, projects such as those regarding tourism," Siluanov said. We are also talking about the allocation of 500 billion rubles towards one-time payments to pensioners and military personnel," he said.

"Therefore, the latest decisions by the president will be fully covered by the revenues of the current year," Siluanov said.