Russia has exhausted its Reserve Fund
As of January 1, 2018, the Reserve Fund of Russia no longer exists. In early December there was about $17 billion remaining in the fund, but it was decided that it would be combined with the National Welfare Fund and all additional revenues from the oil and gas industry would be sent there, reports news agency Rosbalt.
The reserve fund was established in 2008. It was to become a source to finance the budget deficit in the event of a sharp drop in treasury revenues. At its peak - in mid-2008 - the amount in the fund exceeded $140 billion. When the aggression against Ukraine began, there was as much as $90 billion in the fund, after which the reserves began to decline rapidly.
The National Welfare Fund was created as part of a long-term pension arrangement and to finance long-term self-supporting infrastructure projects. For a considerable time it contained $80-90 billion, but by December 2017 that amount had fallen to $67 billion.
At the end of 2016, the head of the Account Chamber of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Golikova, said that the Reserve Fund would be completely exhausted in 2017 and the government would switch to the use of FNB funds. Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov also confirmed that the Reserve Fund would be exhausted in 2017.