Closed NWF: Why the government itself refuses to develop the economy

Truly, Russia is an amazing country. Our "sovereigns" are able to easily turn any reasonable undertaking upside down. In any case, such an impression is formed when one gets acquainted with the initiatives of the national liberal government. What did the "servants of the people" learn there this time?

On the eve it became known that the government, on the instructions of the president, is considering the possibility of raising the GDP threshold, upon reaching which it is possible to spend liquid funds of the NWF, from 7% to 10%. After this, you just want to sigh and shrug tiredly, and that's why.



The National Welfare Fund is formed from the proceeds from the sale of oil for export. All incomes above a certain level are "cut off" and stored in the NWF until better times, in other words, de facto, they are withdrawn from economics... The author of this controversial idea is the former "best in the world" finance minister and prominent systemic liberal Alexei Kudrin. Formally, this was done under the most plausible pretext: to create a "money box" for a "rainy day", and indeed in 2008-2009 the reserves came in handy, so we will not be mad about the idea of ​​having a "stash". The only question is the proportions in which the accumulated funds remain intact and, on the contrary, can return to the economy.

Today, according to the established rule, it is possible to spend on real projects reserves that exceed 7% of the country's GDP. This threshold has already been reached, new super profits are pouring into the budget due to the rapidly rising prices for hydrocarbons. For petrodollars, there has long been a queue of people wishing to receive funding: various infrastructure and oil and gas projects. According to the new investment rules, the share of NWF funds in them should not exceed 25%, and the amount of borrowed funds should not exceed 40%. Even one fourth of all investments at the expense of the state is a very good help. And what do we see?

The Kremlin's website published an instruction from the President to the Cabinet of Ministers with the following content:


This initiative is motivated by the fact that in connection with the global energy transition to "green" energy sources, a significant decrease in budget revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons for export is expected. Within the framework of this logic, it is proposed to accumulate and not spend the maximum amount of petrodollars while “black gold” is still worth something. Alas, but this logic, which seems to be normal within the framework of liberal "kudrinomics", appears to be essentially flawed.

What is the global trend? It is true, the gradual and consistent phase-out of fossil fuels and the transition to renewable energy sources. Since the kilowatts generated by renewable energy sources are more expensive than traditional ones, the largest players - the European Union, China and the United States - are preparing to protect their producers by introducing the so-called "carbon tax". That is, exporters whose products have a high "carbon footprint" in production will have to pay an increased duty for the right to access the European, Chinese and American markets. Unfortunately, our country will be among the first among the victims of such changes, since the share of "green" energy in the total energy balance in Russia today is about 1%.

Any adequate person will exclaim, so why not stake on the development of renewable energy sources in our country, so that the exported metals, fertilizers, hydrogen and other products are produced using "green" kilowatts? Indeed, our potential in this area is very great.

At firstThe vast Russian expanses allow the construction of giant wind farms and offshore wind turbines near the coast.

Secondly, on our numerous rivers and streams, you can open mini-hydroelectric power plants.

Thirdly, solar power plants can be launched in the southern regions of the country.

FourthlyRosatom has all the necessary competencies to build the latest generation of nuclear power plants not only for its Turkish partners, but also, for example, somewhere in Siberia, in the Far East. It seems that "Shoigu cities" should appear there. Nuclear energy is cheap and green.

Fifthly, let's not forget about such a valuable source of energy as biogas. It is enough to load biomass and other waste of biological origin into special tanks, add enzymes there, mix all this, and the output will be gas that can be burned and generate heat and electricity, as well as fertilizers. Such biogas plants can be built on the basis of any urban collector, large farm or even a landfill. The result is a triple benefit: harmful greenhouse gases do not enter the atmosphere, “green” kilowatts are extracted and valuable fertilizers are obtained.

All this can and should be done. This is not so difficult and technically difficult, tea, not a manned mission to Mars. We need a state development program and state money. And instead of investing the NWF's funds right now in the development of renewable energy sources, which are needed to preserve Russian exports abroad, we have the “money box” being hammered tightly and hidden away in order to somehow survive the expected drop in export revenues. Tell me, hasn't the officials turned everything upside down? And why?