When the financial crisis hit in mid-2008, leading countries had to adopt emergency plans to boost economic recovery. Russia was no exception, and its government approved one of the largest anti-crisis packages relative to GDP. The other problem facing Russia was a sharp drop in commodities prices, but before there was a price collapse Russia was able to accumulate a significant cash cushion in its Reserve and National Wellbeing funds. For the anti-crisis programs, the government is using the Reserve Fund only, which dropped significantly from $142 billion on Sept. 1, 2008 to $40 billion on Sept. 1, 2010. The federal budget deficit rose to 5.9 percent of GDP in 2009 after nine years of surplus. This year's federal budget deficit is officially forecast at 5.4 percent of GDP. In July 2010, Ministry of Finance (MinFin) officials announced that the government's new debt program was being developed, focusing mainly on domestic borrowings as opposed to reserve fund usage or external debt.
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