MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Reserve Fund now stands at 4.7 trillion rubles ($142.5 billion) and the National Wealth Fund at 2.6 trillion rubles ($79 billion), Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
The Finance Ministry divided the former Stabilization Fund into the Reserve Fund, designed to cushion the federal budget against a plunge in oil prices, and the National Wealth Fund, designed to help Russia carry out pension reforms, on February 1, 2008.
Russia's Reserve Fund stood at 4.03 trillion rubles ($137.1 billion) and the National Wealth Fund at 2.6 trillion rubles ($87.97 billion) as of the end of 2008.
Kudrin said late in December that Russia would face a budget deficit in 2009 amid declining world oil prices. He also said that Russia would use the Reserve Fund to make up the shortfall.
