New benefits for newborns may come from resource rent
In Russia, they offered to transfer 100 thousand rubles to newborns from part of the mineral extraction tax. Experts are convinced that the proposed mechanism for financing child development has the right to legislative approval – in many countries, the budget of which is formed at the expense of hydrocarbon exports, citizens have long been paid the so-called “oil rent”. However, in Russia the question now comes to the fore: how much will the federal budget cover such expenses?
Maxim Petunin, the head of the Institute for Social Research and Development of Civil Initiatives, proposed to the government to consider the possibility of annually transferring funds to the Fund for Future Generations in the amount of 10% of the MET, of which each newborn will receive 100 thousand rubles to his account. According to the plan, a personal account will be opened automatically in a state bank. The funds received will be kept on the deposit until the child reaches the age of eighteen, and the amount will be increased due to bank interest.
At first glance, the idea looks populist, but world practice knows this experience. In Kuwait, 10% of the revenues from the sale of oil and petroleum products are transferred to the fund for future generations every year. And from this fund, deposits for the birth of a child, wedding bonuses, loans for housing construction and much more are financed. When a Kuwaiti baby is born, the state automatically deposits $ 3,000 into his bank account. Over time, this amount is significantly replenished due to interest and other deposits, and by the age of 18 each citizen has sufficient funds to start an independent life.
In the UAE, the state also opens an account for each child, and by the age of 18, about $ 100 thousand is recruited. In addition, for the birth of a child, the state pays an amount from $ 50 thousand to $ 200 thousand. Residents of Norway, one of the most highly developed European countries, can boast that for the birth of a child, you can get $ 5 thousand and a monthly allowance of $ 150. And all this is a consequence of the presence of special state funds, which receive surplus proceeds from the oil trade, which are then redistributed in one way or another in favor of citizens.
The Russian budget may well cope with such a task. The amount of mineral extraction tax in 2020 amounted to 6 trillion rubles. Accordingly, 10% is 600 billion rubles. About 1.5 million babies were born in Russia last year. Accordingly, if you pay each newborn 100 thousand rubles, you can get the total cost of 150 billion rubles.
The head of the analytical department of Amarkets, Artem Deev, is convinced that the state has the opportunity to implement this initiative, since the government plans to receive additional funds in the amount of more than 50 billion rubles by increasing the MET within the next three years.
Mark Goykhman, chief analyst at TeleTrade, says the Newborn Benefit initiative has many benefits. “In addition to additional incentives to increase the birth rate in the country, with targeted use,“ children’s money ”would contribute to the gradual improvement of“ human capital ”in the country. Development of education systems, health care, housing. These funds would contribute to an increase in effective consumer demand, which acts as an incentive for the growth of production of goods and services, and an increase in economic growth, “the analyst emphasized.
Maria Kislova, director of the Russian office of GoStudent, believes that the ideal subsidization is when strategically important costs are shifted not to consumers, but to sustainable businesses operating in the extractive industry. However, the possibility of implementing such an idea has always been questioned.
For example, the population of the United Arab Emirates, where from birth a person receives deductions from the extraction of energy resources, is an order of magnitude less than in Russia. “Immigrants who are attracted from outside by cheaper wages extract raw materials there. In our country, it is necessary to use a qualified labor reserve, to ensure pension savings and other social components, says economist Andrei Loboda. – The state is already spending money earned on oil and gas quotes to support children – it pays maternity capital or makes other payments. However, such allocations are one-time, and Russia is hardly capable of switching to permanent subsidies, despite the budget surplus. “
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