MOSCOW, March 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will spend 1.6 trillion rubles ($45.6 billion) of its reserve funds to balance its budget in the first half of 2009, the government website said on Wednesday.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin earlier said 2.7 trillion rubles ($77 billion) would be spent to make up for the budget deficit this year. The Reserve Fund, designed to cushion the federal budget from a fall in oil prices, stood at 4.9 trillion rubles ($136 billion) as of March 1.
Russia has been hit hard by the credit crunch, which has caused oil prices to plummet.
The Finance Ministry earlier said the budget deficit could hit 8% of GDP in 2009, but would decrease to 5% and 3% in the next two years.
