ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – The Russian government will spend up to 400 billion roubles ($5.5 billion) annually from the country’s National Wealth Fund in a bid to boost state investment in infrastructure projects and finance its development strategy, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said the spending would be equally split between infrastructure investments and funding of a government development strategy worth 1.2 trillion roubles.
The National Wealth Fund, which is designed to help balance the pension system and stores part of Russia’s revenues from oil exports, was worth $116.4 billion, or 7.5% of the country’s GDP, as of May 1.
Russia’s finance ministry and the central bank have called for careful spending from the fund, stressing the importance of not spending more than 1 trillion roubles over a three-year period.
The initiative voiced by Belousov would bring spending from the fund to a maximum of 1.2 trillion over three years.
Last year, the authorities relaxed budget spending rules to give the economy a boost as it was pummelled by the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices.
($1 = 73.1100 roubles)
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Alistair Bell)
