Page 9 - RusRPTApr20

The NWF held RUB8,249.6bn rubles ($123bn) as of March 1, which is equivalent of 7.3% of GDP. The fund is fed by siphoning excess tax revenues from oil sales off from anything earned when oil is over $42.2, but this money is held on account by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the accounts are reconciled periodically.
That is why the size of the fund stepped up so dramatically last summer and nearly doubled in size overnight. Taking this accounting quirk into account, as this year’s excess oil money has still not been formally deposited in the fund, the NWF will be worth about RUB10 trillion, or $150bn when the accounts are next reconciled.
On the face of it the Russian economy looks pretty healthy and able to withstand the oil price shock for quiet a while thanks to the huge “rany day” fund.
However, to better understand the true health of the economy it better to look at the “non-oil deficit.” This is the budget deficit Russia would have if all the oil magically disappeared.
Russia has always used its oil revenues to subsidise its spending and its one of the reasons the Ministry of Finance has been able to keep income tax at
9 RUSSIA Country Report April 2020 www.intellinews.com