MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Inflation in Russia by the end of 2016 may be lower than 5.8 percent, said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
“We estimate inflation this year to 5.8% on the basis of December to December (2015, 2016 – approx. ed.). I want to say that this is the lowest the inflation rate in recent years. Perhaps even she will also be below our forecast,” – said the Minister, speaking in the Duma.
As stated earlier, the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, inflation this year will be close to the lower boundary of the forecast of the Bank of Russia, which is in the range of 5.5-6%, i.e. about 5.5%.
The key task of the Central Bank is the achievement of inflation at 4% by the end of 2017.
Social obligations
Pensions and other social payments in 2017 will be indexed for actual inflation in 2016 under any circumstances, said the Minister.
“We will index all social payments, including pensions, on the actual inflation rate that will develop in the current year. This is a requirement of the law. We will stick to it for any inflation, which will be in 2016,” he said.
The status of the Reserve Fund and national welfare Fund
The Reserve Fund at the end of 2016 will amount to 1.1 trillion rubles., NWF – 4.7 trillion RUB.
“The balance of funds in the current year is as follows: Reserve Fund – 1.1 trillion rubles at the end of the year, the national welfare Fund will amount to 4.7 trillion rubles., of which 1.6 trillion was invested in assets and projects. That is 3.1 trillion rubles – this is our reserve balance, which can be used to Finance expenditure,” said the Finance Minister.
According to previously published the draft budget for 2017-2019 years, the Reserve Fund will be depleted in 2017. To cover the budget deficit in 2017, the Ministry of Finance planned to spend of 1.15 trillion rubles from the Reserve Fund and 659 billion rubles from the national welfare Fund. In 2018, the same for these purposes, the Agency laid of 1.14 trillion rubles from the national welfare Fund, and in 2019 – 136,86 billion.
OFZ for the population
The Finance Ministry plans to issue Federal loan bonds (OFZ) for the population by the end of this year, considers it a realistic plan to increase the internal borrowing of the Russian Federation, 200 billion rubles amendments to the 2016 budget.
“Plan on borrowing quite realistic. We worked well on the privatization, sold Bashneft higher than expected. We see the demand from investors for our paper. Plus we still release this year a special paper for the public, too, will be able to attract resources for the population. Therefore, with regard to the possibility of increasing (domestic borrowing – approx. ed.) to 200 billion rubles – there is no doubt,” said the Minister.
