Sergey Drobyshevsky on Trump's plans for a national sovereign fund

Sergey Drobyshevsky suggests that the US fund seems likely to be an «asset fund» rather than a classic budget fund, with no direct link to the US budget. In this structure, there is no need to develop budgetary rules (as in Russia, where the NWF is replenished from oil and gas excess revenues and is spent when they fall short) or there is no need to have a federal budget surplus. Hypothetically, the fund can issue its own bonds, which can be serviced by income from assets.

There were examples in history (for example, in Estonia or South Africa), when sovereign funds were established at the expense of state property or privatization revenues; Singapore and Qatar have funds that do not depend on inflows of conjunctural or current budget revenues. Even Russia’s frozen reserves (estimated at $4–5 bn in terms of the US portion) or the assets of foreign companies under sanctions, as well as other assets confiscated from their owners in favor of the US state, could theoretically be deposited in the US sovereign fund, the expert admits.

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