The government will press ahead with plans to channel 450 billion rubles ($13.5 billion), or 40 percent of the National Welfare Fund, to large infrastructure projects starting from next year, but it is reluctant to allocate more, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Monday.
The Finance Ministry, which oversees the fund's spending, is being bombarded with proposals to finance various investment projects, Siluanov said.
"But we have always supported the idea that there should be a limited number of them — there are three" projects, the minister said, Interfax reported.
President Vladimir Putin identified the three infrastructure projects at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June: an upgrade of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, a high-speed rail line between Moscow to Kazan, and a Central Ring Road beltway around Moscow to be built by 2020.
But Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in late July that more money from the fund could be spent on infrastructure projects.
"Effectively investing the accumulated funds is our key task today. We are mainly talking about spending up to 540 billion rubles from the welfare fund," he told Voice of Russia radio.
But the Finance Ministry has sought to keep welfare fund spending at 40 percent of the total while not clarifying how much it will have to fork out to support pensions in the future, a stance underscored by Siluanov on Monday.
"The fund is a stabilization mechanism for the pension system," Siluanov said. "So far we do not know exactly what kind of a pension system there will be. We do not have the final formula."
He also said that if more money was required for infrastructure projects, it would have to come from the anti-crisis money that was earlier earmarked to support state banks.
The banks will begin to return the money in December 2014, he said.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.
