Russia tops up emergency spending fund with gas gains – POLITICO

Russia will increase its reserve fund for emergency spending to ensure economic stability in the face of unprecedented western sanctions by 273.4 billion rubles (about 3.2 billion euros), the government said called in an opinion.

“The funds will be used, among other things, to implement measures aimed at ensuring the stability of the economy in the face of external sanctions,” the government said.

The government will finance by far the largest part of these funds (271.6 billion rubles or about 3.1 billion euros) with additional revenues in the first quarter of 2022, the report said.

Moscow has already spent more than 1 trillion rubles (about 11.5 billion euros) in anti-crisis support for businesses and social payments to cushion the impact of Western sanctions.

On Friday, Russia’s central bank said it had cut interest rates from 20 percent to 17 percent, noting that “external conditions are still challenging for the Russian economy and are significantly constraining economic activity.”