Page 51 - RusRPTJun19

higher than the same period last year. The main buyers of gold this year, WGC also names Kazakhstan, Turkey, India, Ecuador, Qatar and Colombia.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised the Russian government not to spend the money in its National Welfare Fund (NWF) and to invest it into “secure foreign assets” instead. The Russian Ministry of Finance is intending to spend some of the money in the rainy day funds on its 12 National Projects. The National Welfare Fund is currently receiving super-profits from the sale of oil: a revenues earned from when the price of Urals oil is above $ 41.6 per barrel are funneled into the funds, according to the budget rule in 2019. The National Welfare Fund currently holds RUB3.8 trillion, or 3.6% of GDP. According to the Budget Code, after the liquid part (excluding investments already made) of the NWF reaches 7% of GDP, the fund’s funds can be spent. The Ministry of Finance predicts that this will happen by the end of 2019, when the NWF will accumulate RUB7.9 trillion. The Russian authorities have not yet decided on what to spend the money. Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin proposed directing money to lend to buyers of Russian products abroad, concessional financing when setting up production for Russian companies abroad, as well as concessional financing when creating service centers that will serve Russian products in third-country market. Oilmen offered a simpler solution: to spend part of the funds of the NWF to compensate for their losses from the completion of the tax manoeuvre in the oil industry.
51 RUSSIA Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com