Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin takes part in a round table session devoted to the Stabilization Fund allocation.
Photo: Ilya Pitalev
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The Hundredth Billion of Stabilization Fund
Russia’s Stabilization Fund amassed 2.648 trillion rubles ($99.77 billion) as of February 1, 2007, Finance Ministry reported. So, the benchmark of a hundred billion dollars will be surpassed in the near term despite that, a year ago, the ministry forecasted it to happen only in early 2008.
Breaking all records, Stabilization Fund stepped up by 300.3 billion rubles ($10.6 billion), or 12.8 percent, in January. The thing is that the rates of its growth are traditionally high in the first month, when undistributed costs of past year’s budget pass to the Stabilization Fund along with additional budget revenues.
This January, both sources triggered nearly equal growth. Super crude revenues funneled 145.3 billion rubles, while the budget remains added 155.05 billion rubles.
The Stabilization Fund was growing at the heightened pace in the second half of the past year on skyrocketing crude prices and crude export duties. The duties that were charged in the amount of $179.7 per a bbl from February 1 soared to $237.6 per a bbl in the fall. Given that the export duties are established based on the prices of previous two months, the budget receipts were the record high even after their decline. But the pace will hardly be maintained in the following months.
The Stabilization Fund keeps its money on the currency accounts with the Central Bank of Russia. The Feb. 1 amount was split as follows: $40.22 billion, ˆ31.46 billion and £4.73 billion. The balance of the rubble account equaled 251.9 billion rubles. The annual yield was 7.19 percent in the U.S. dollars starting from late July, Finance Ministry said.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 02, 2007
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