MOSCOW, April 19 (Reuters) - Russia’s National Wealth Fund has sufficient reserves to last until 2024 if oil prices remain at current levels, the TASS news agency quoted Finance Minister Anton Siluanov as saying on Sunday.
Measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak are expected to cost Russia 2.8% of its gross domestic product, officials have said.
The fund is expected to be worth 7 trillion roubles ($94.8 billion) at the end of 2020, taking into account current planned spending, Siluanov was quoted as saying. The fund stood at 12.9 trillion roubles at the start of April.
The ministry previously said that it would use the fund to inject about 2 trillion roubles into the economy this year if oil prices stay near current levels.
Russia’s economy will show “seriously negative figures for the second quarter”, former economy minister Maxim Oreshkin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, was quoted as saying by TASS.
Putin-led health and education development projects will remain the country’s priority but will be adjusted slightly, Oreshkin added. ($1 = 73.8425 roubles) (Reporting by Polina Devitt Editing by David Goodman)
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