Sources for replenishing the National Welfare Fund (NWF), which is called “the main money-box of Russia”, were found. This is reported by RBC with reference to the representative of the press service of the Ministry of Finance.
The ministry assured that if the current oil price and the ruble exchange rate are maintained, additional oil and gas revenues of the federal budget in 2021 will exceed two trillion rubles. “By the end of the year, these funds will be transferred to the National Welfare Fund,” the Ministry of Finance said.
However, according to the Accounts Chamber, the NWF will not be replenished in 2021. The auditors stressed that the fund is being replenished by additional revenues from oil and gas exports. However, instead of an excess of oil and gas revenues, there was a shortage of them, so that the sources of replenishment of the “egg-box” were exhausted.
“Thus, there are no more sources for replenishing the NWF in 2021, and additional oil and gas revenues in 2021 can be used to replenish the NWF only in 2022,” the Accounts Chamber noted. Now the total volume of the NWF in ruble terms is almost 13.5 trillion rubles.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that with an oil price of $ 60 per barrel, the NWF would receive about 2.5 trillion rubles. According to Novak, oil prices are currently rising.