The Stabilization Fund, established to accrue surplus revenues from high world oil prices, stood at $64.7 billion as of September 1, 2006. The Central Bank said Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves stood at $260.4 billion as of September 1, leaving the country with the world's fourth largest foreign currency reserves after China, Japan and Taiwan.
"The budget surplus in terms of the Stabilization Fund will stand at about 6 trillion rubles ($224.22 billion) in 2009," Minister German Gref said. "The gold and currency reserves, which will hedge fluctuations on the foreign exchange market and currency inflow, will stand at over $300 billion."
Last week international ratings agency Standard & Poor's raised Russia's long-term credit rating to 'BBB+' for foreign currency liabilities and to 'A-' for the national currency and Gref told an investment conference in Tatarstan, a Russian republic on the Volga, that the increase in the find would lead to further improvements.
"This is a volume that will enable us [Russia] to follow calmly the course toward macroeconomic stability and that is necessary for investment and the country's credit ratings," Gref said.
