The budget rule in Russia remains - deputies were driven away from the national budget
The budget of the Russian Federation for the next years provides for the preservation of the budget rule, that is, the conservation of excess income from the sale of hydrocarbons in the National Welfare Fund. Previously, the government assured that the budget rule would be abolished.
A question about this was asked today in the State Duma by economist Mikhail Delyagin, a deputy from A Just Russia, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“As part of the modified budget rule, which the government did not inform all of its colleagues, the Ministry of Finance next year freezes 939 billion rubles in the National Welfare Fund and immediately takes out external loans for 1,7 trillion rubles. Similar things are expected to be done in subsequent years. What is the meaning of this, besides the main priority of the budgetary policy of the Russian Federation - subsidizing the largest financial speculators at our expense by increasing the obviously unnecessary public debt? " Delyagin said.
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov assured that the funds of the National Welfare Fund will be invested in the economy.
“If we do not have a reserve in case of various unforeseen situations, then the price of our borrowings will be completely different. As long as there is a safety net, we can borrow on the market on terms that suit us. Next year we plan to maintain the principles of the fiscal rule and send part of the resources to the National Welfare Fund. We will be able to borrow more than 3,5 trillion rubles on the market.
There is nothing special about this, because in subsequent years the National Welfare Fund will invest in the projects that we have selected. This is the Moscow-Kazan road, the port in Ust-Luga, replenishment of the aircraft fleet, support for the Eastern training ground. All this requires money. The National Welfare Fund serves as our emergency fund. But our main ideology is: the National Welfare Fund is for infrastructure investment projects. And for the budget deficit we will focus more on loans,” Siluanov said.
This year, as a result of sanctions, almost a third of the funds of the National Welfare Fund (NWF), placed in the currencies of unfriendly countries, were frozen, which is equivalent to approximately 4–4,5 trillion rubles.
The leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov believes that the Ministry of Finance has done “everything so that the country degenerates.”
“Who is in charge there? Siluanov? Kudrin continues the same line. These are defeatists from the 90s, who sold the country with Yeltsin, drank and squandered it, and continue this policy during the war. I would like to appeal to the president. I would not sign such a budget,” Zyuganov told reporters.
According to him, next year $264 billion will be taken out of Russia.
Russian version :: Read in English The budget rule remains in place in Russia – deputies have been driven away from the national piggy bank.