Our wise government has thrown another 239 billion rubles of our oil money from the National Wealth Fund onto the scrap heap. And just look at how they dressed it up:
Here is the link to the resolution.
In other words, VTB and Rosselkhozbank formally “repay the loans” and avoid spoiling their financial statements, but the money is immediately handed back to them through the purchase of preferred shares.
These “prefs,” of course, are of no real use to the government. They do not grant any right to participate in management, so the state’s stake in the charter capital does not increase. Dividends are theoretically guaranteed, but the yield is laughably low. They are just plugging another hole in the banks’ capital, that’s all.
So they did not just bury the money — they also publicly told the market: yes, VTB and Rosselkhozbank can operate incompetently, handing out kickback-driven loans that no one will ever repay. We’ll just cover it all with oil money.
Ironically, shareholder rights for these shares are exercised by the Ministry of Economic Development, whose head, Alexei Ulyukayev, published a column today titled "How to Spend Wisely" — about how the “oil rainy-day fund” should be spent properly, prudently, and efficiently. A fine example, Alexei Valentinovich. Very wise spending indeed.
People