Deputies of the Russian State Duma are mulling over the idea of ​​launching a “printing press” for the Central Bank of Russia. For example, a bill has been introduced to give the Central Bank of Russia the right to directly finance the Russian budget.

This is reported by The Moscow Times.

According to the draft law, the Central Bank of Russia will be able to issue practically interest-free loans to the Russian government to cover the budget deficit – at a rate of 0.15% per annum. The deputies also propose to grant the Central Bank of Russia the right to buy government bonds, effectively financing the treasury through money emission .

However, such operations are currently prohibited by the Russian law “On the Central Bank”.

“Removing restrictions on direct financing of state needs by the Bank of Russia will ensure stable financing of state programs at minimal costs; reduce the dependence of the state budget on market conditions and interest rate fluctuations; create conditions for the redistribution of resources in the banking system in favor of lending to the real sector of the economy,” the explanatory note to the bill says.

It was previously reported that after the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities launched a large-scale money issue in order to use the “printing press” to cover the budget deficit and finance state corporations involved in the Kremlin’s megaprojects. Thus, from the beginning of 2022 to October 2024, the monetary base – that is, the amount of money of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in the financial system – jumped by 8.2 trillion rubles.

In January of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the past year was successful for the Russian economy .

According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, last year the Russian government’s expenditures exceeded revenues by 3.3 trillion rubles, and the deficit turned out to be twice as large as the initial plan, which was 1.6 trillion rubles.

The Russian government spent another $18.4 billion from the National Welfare Fund to plug the “hole” in the treasury and help state-owned corporations hit by sanctions. As a result, the Fund’s liquid, i.e. unspent, assets fell to $37.5 billion, the lowest level since 2008.

However, it was previously reported that the volume of the National Welfare Fund of Russia, created under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, as of January 1, 2025 amounted to 11.88 trillion rubles. , or $116.84 billion in equivalent, and 8.07 trillion rubles. of the total volume of the National Welfare Fund was actually spent or invested in various projects. At the same time, the volume of liquid, i.e. unused funds of the Fund, decreased by a third last year (by $18.4 billion) – to $37.5 billion.

The volume of liquid assets of the Fund as of the beginning of 2022 was estimated at $113.5 billion, at the beginning of 2023 – $87.19 billion, and by the beginning of 2024 it had decreased to $55.88 billion.

In February 2025, it became known that transactions with the National Welfare Fund of Russia are increasingly moving into a “shadow” mode as the reserves accumulated over the years from oil surpluses are nearing exhaustion. Thus, in 2024, more than 100 tons of gold left the NWF as a result of transactions that the Russian Ministry of Finance did not report in its monthly reports on the status of the Fund.

Author:  Halyna Yalivets Джерело: https://biz.censor.net/n3542996

(c)CENSOR.NET 2025