Page 70 - Russia OUTLOOK 2023

The Russian Finance Ministry spent RUB300bn ($5bn) from the National
Welfare Fund (NWF) in November to finance the budget deficit, RBC
business portal reported citing the ministry. FinMin sold euros, pounds sterling,
and Japanese yen from the NWF held in the Central Bank of Russia (CBR)
accounts to transfer RUB300bn to the federal budget.

In the same week, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov revised the budget deficit
forecast for 2022 to about 2% of GDP, up from the previous September
estimate of 0.9% of GDP, or RUB1.3 trillion.

But Siluanov reiterated that despite the wider deficit the MinFin will minimise
NWF spending by focusing on OFZ bond issuance instead. Indeed, FinMin has
a RUB1 trillion ceiling for tapping into the NWF fund, as per the previous
decree by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. But the ministry is unlikely to use
all of it this year (RUB260bn spent in October and RUB300bn in November)

As of December 1, the volume of the NWF amounted to RUB11.4 trillion, or

70 Russia OUTLOOK 2022 www.intellinews.com