MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - The use of all revenues from oil exports would have caused a 6%-8% rise in inflation, Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin said Thursday.
Speaking at a parliamentary meeting, the minister said, "Had we not taken part of the revenues from circulation and used all the funds, additional inflation could have reached 6%-8%."
"We would have had to enter the salary increase race," he added. "And we cannot afford being sucked into this whirlwind."
According to Kudrin, the total amount of funds that had been regularly taken from circulation before 2005 was about 40%.
"In 2005, though, Russia is taking up to 60% of oil revenues from circulation due to increased oil export tariffs and the mineral extraction tax, although this still does not keep inflation at bay," the minister said.
Russia's stabilization fund, where the profits from oil exports accrue, totaled $25.41 billion as of August 1, 2005.
