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Russia’s reserves fully cover international debt for the first time in history — Putin

The government has a task of using resources of the National Wealth Fund without deteriorating the macroeconomic situation, Putin said

© Alexandr Demyanchuk/TASS

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Russia’s reserves cover the international sovereign and commercial debt for the first time in history, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday in his State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly.

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"We have a strong financial safety cushion. I can inform you - and this is a nice and good piece of news - our reserves completely cover the foreign debt of the state, which is very small, and the commercial sector for the first time in our history," Putin noted.

The government has a task of using resources of the National Wealth Fund (NWF) without deteriorating the macroeconomic situation, the head of state said.

"We have a task of building [them] up to a certain level and then use them little by little, without ‘rocking’ the macroeconomic situation. We have recently approached this and start doing so. Revenues from placements are coming to the budget. The income from placement of NWF funds credited to the 2018-year budget amounted to 70.5 bln rubles ($1.1 bln)," Putin added.

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