Stabilization Fund resources will be placed on deposit at the Central Bank of Russia – 45 percent in dollars, 45 percent in euros and 10 percent in pounds sterling, the Russian finance minister said Wednesday. “On Monday, I signed orders for Stabilization Fund resources to be placed on Central Bank deposits,” Alexei Kudrin said.
He said yields would be 5 percent per year on dollar deposits and slightly less on euro deposits, adding that as deposit risks, prospects and reliability were reviewed, the deposit structure would be modified.
“The Central Bank will be paying the Finance Ministry interest at a rate based on the index of a basket of state securities as fixed by the government,” the minister said.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said on Monday that the Stabilization Fund would grow to about 2 trillion rubles ($74 bln) by the end of 2006, and that the government might invest about 10 percent of the fund’s money in securities of private companies, with other investments going into state securities.
The Stabilization Fund, established in 2004 to accumulate windfall profits from oil prices above a cutoff of $27 per barrel, and hold back inflation by neutralizing an influx of petrodollars, is widely seen as a tool to ensure macroeconomic stability, create conditions for the launch of structural reforms, reduce economic dependence on foreign markets, and diversify the country’s economy.
Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said Monday the Finance Ministry planned to begin investing resources from the Stabilization Fund in foreign financial securities in the next few weeks.
