The reserve fund will be replenished by 273.4 billion rubles. from oil and gas super profits

The government's reserve fund will be replenished by 273.4 billion rubles, according to the website of the Cabinet of Ministers. The funds will be used, among other things, to implement measures aimed at ensuring the stability of the economy in the face of external sanctions.

Most of the funds, 271.6 billion rubles, will come from additional oil and gas revenues received in the first quarter of 2022, the authorities specified.

Funds created to finance non-federal spending, in particular, are used to finance one-time presidential payments to pensioners and families with children from six to 18 years old, as well as measures to combat CORONAVIRUS, including the purchase of free medicines .

In early March, the government proposed allowing additional oil and gas revenues to be spent on current liabilities. Under the current budget rule, oil and gas windfall profits (3.4 trillion rubles in 2022) are credited to the National Wealth Fund through the mechanism of buying foreign currency on the domestic market, RBC wrote. At the same time, until recently, these funds were forbidden to be spent on financing the domestic economy in order to prevent inflation from accelerating. According to Vladimir Klimanov, DIRECTOR of the Center for Regional Policy at the RANEPA, under the sanctions, the authorities are forced for the first time to direct oil and gas windfall profits to urgent current needs.

On March 14, President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing additional oil and gas revenues to be spent on priority purposes, which "will allow for measures to support enterprises in the Russian economy aimed at preserving jobs and paying wages to citizens."