High oil prices do not save the Russian National Welfare Fund (NWF) from shrinking. Its dollar equivalent continues to decline. In April, the volume of the fund grew in rubles by 5%, but in dollars it decreased by 3%, or by almost $ 2 billion. As of May 1, 2018, the volume of SWF amounted to $ 63.91 billion (3.96 trillion rubles, which is 4.1% of GDP). A year ago, the volume of reserves was at the level of $ 73.57 billion (4.19 trillion rubles, 4.5% of GDP), and two years ago - $ 73.86 billion (4.75 trillion rubles, 5.5% of GDP). And this despite the fact that oil was much cheaper then: $ 66 per barrel of Urals brand now, $ 52 - last year and $ 34 in the year before. In addition, Russia then had another "airbag" - the Reserve Fund, which was abolished on January 1, 2018. , according to "Free Press". The higher the price of oil, the more money is transferred to the NWF - this is the current budget rule. And nevertheless, the volumes of the national "stash" are shrinking. This is because the government spends funds from the fund to the left and right. So, at the end of last year, 656.7 billion rubles from the NWF were transferred to the budget of the Russian Pension Fund, although earlier such a transfer was not foreseen. The money of the NWF is also building the Central Ring Road, upgrading the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian highways, constructing nuclear power plants and icebreakers and. It is not excluded that some of the funds of the NWF will be spent on the implementation of the new May decrees of Vladimir Putin. They will need to additionally find 8 trillion rubles for six years. It is possible that some of these funds will be found in the fund. Although earlier Finance Minister Anton Siluanov promised that the 2018 will be the last year when the reserve funds will be spent. However, experts do not consider it necessary to increase the "airbag". According to them, it is much wiser to overcome the stagnation of these funds for infrastructure and investment projects. "Firstly, the Fund's money should in no case be kept from our geopolitical opponents, that is, in US assets. Secondly, the very existence of this Fund means that at the initial stage we reduce the share of budget opportunities in the investment direction, and this can not be done. If you support the economy in a "full", working condition, reserve funds are almost unnecessary, because all issues can be resolved in the usual way. It is necessary not to create funds but use these funds to invest in investments, "said Anatoly Selyukov, Professor of the Department of Financial Law of the Russian State University of Justice.. Yury Yudenkov, a professor at the Department of Finance, Money and Credit, Faculty of Finance and Banking of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, sees nothing strange in the fact that rising oil prices do not immediately affect the volume of the NWF:.

"Between the change in the price of oil and the receipt of funds in the NWF there is a certain lag, that is, a delay. I assume that on the basis of the weighted average price for a certain period goes to the fund ". He also criticized the government's excessive passion for hoarding. "We do not see strategies for the long-term period, there is only prompt execution of the president's instructions, and at this point. FNB is a "safety cushion", but what could be a "safety cushion" if the economy falls? We need to raise it, but we are doing "cushions", "concluded Yudenkov.