REUTERS
The Russian government has set aside 135 billion rubles ($1.7 billion) to help the real economy in a draft anti-crisis plan, two senior officials said, according to Reuters.
An anti-crisis plan had been drawn up which earmarked 135 billion rubles to help parts of the real economy, Reuters wrote with reference to the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The funds were drawn from unspent budget money from 2015, they said.
The finance ministry, which controls the anti-crisis fund, is against spending all the money, one of the senior officials said. A final decision on which sectors will benefit and by how much had yet to be agreed.
Most of the aid will be in the form of subsidies and state guarantees to share the risk with banks and reduce borrowing costs, according to the report.
The railway and agricultural machinery industries and the consumer goods manufacturing and construction sectors would receive some of the funds, one of the sources said. Russia's car industry has already been promised 50 billion of the 135 billion rubles, the other source said.
One of the sources also said funding for the anti-crisis package could, if necessary, be increased thanks to 340 billion rubles in funds accrued from freezing pension transfers.
The likelihood of that happening was "very low" however, the source said.
It is noted that parts of Russian industry have struggled to get bank loans because the banking sector itself is not able to access Western finance due to sanctions related to the Ukraine crisis, according to Reuters.