MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Reserve Fund decreased 2.4% to 2.242 trillion rubles ($77.18 billion), while the National Welfare Fund shrank 1.9% to 2.712 trillion rubles ($93.38 billion) in October, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
The Reserve Fund was set up to cushion the federal budget against a fall in oil prices, and the National Welfare Fund is intended to help the government carry out pension reforms.
The Finance Ministry said it did not channel money from the Reserve Fund to balance the federal budget in October largely due to high oil prices, with Russia's Urals oil blend hitting a historic high of $72.5 per barrel for 2009.
As of October 1, the Finance Ministry channeled a total of 2.023 trillion rubles ($67 bln) from the Reserve Fund to balance the federal budget, including 309.24 billion rubles ($10.3 billion) in September.
In line with budget policy guidelines for 2010-2012 approved by the government in July, a total of 3.028 trillion rubles ($95.5 billion), or 7.9% of the country's GDP, will be spent on covering the budget deficit this year.
Russia's Reserve Fund is expected to fall to 1.55 trillion rubles ($50 billion) by the end of the year and run out entirely in 2010, while the National Welfare Fund will fall to 2.8 trillion rubles ($91 billion) by the end of the year and down to 94 billion rubles ($3 billion) by the end of 2012.
