MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia"s...

The Reserve Fund was set up to cushion the federal budget against a fall in oil prices, and the National Welfare Fund is intended to help the government carry out pension reforms.

According to the ministry, "In the current year, 1.616 trillion rubles ($51.7 bln) were channeled from the Reserve Fund to balance the federal budget, including 180 billion rubles ($5.8 billion) in July.

Russia"s Reserve Fund is expected to fall to 1.55 trillion rubles ($50 billion) by the yearend and run out in 2010 while the National Welfare Fund will fall to 2.8 trillion rubles ($91 billion) by the yearend and down to 94 billion rubles ($3 billion) by the end of 2012.