Page 83 - RusRPTJan23

by the 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 8.5% of 2022 projected GDP, and the volume of the fund's liquid assets (funds in CBR accounts) amounted to RUB7.6 trillion (5.7% of GDP).
In the law on the 2023-2025 federal budget, the deficit in 2023 is projected at RUB2.9 trillion, or 2% of GDP, cut to RUB1.26 trillion, or 0.7% of GDP, by 2025.
To remind, the NWF is projected at 3.7% of GDP in 2024, the lowest value for the fund since 3.1% of GDP in 2004, when the predecessor of NWF, the Stabilisation fund, was established. In nominal terms, the NWF will fall to its lowest level since 2018, the year of transformation of the fund to its current format.
As followed by bne IntelliNews, the NWF was merged with the Reserve Fund in 2018 and is regulated by the so-called “budget rule” that caps federal budget spendings and thus the fund allocations at cut-off oil price.
The budget rule was first compromised during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and suspended in 2022 amid the Western sanctions for Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. While FinMin is redrafting the rule, there will be no transfers to the NWF until the end of 2023.
83 RUSSIA Country Report January 2023 www.intellinews.com