Russia’s Stabilization Fund, which was created in 2004 to cushion the budget from a fall in oil prices, rose to $76.51 billion as of November 1, the country’s Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

It stood at 1.89 trillion rubles ($70.57 billion) as of Oct.1. The fund, which collects export duties and extraction tax from a price of oil exceeding $27 per barrel, has been fully converted into foreign currency.

Under current rules, the fund’s assets can be invested in AAA-rated government securities, with a share of up to 45 percent in dollars and euros respectively and up to 10 percent in sterling.

The Finance Ministry said, quoted by Reuters, that returns on the fund’s investment stood at 13.9 billion rubles ($519 million), which, the ministry said, corresponds to a yield of 6.54 percent per year in dollars.

The ministry said the fund held $32 billion, 25 billion euros and 3.8 billion pounds, as well as 153 billion rubles ($5.71 billion) of extra budget revenues transferred to the fund in October but not yet converted.

During the conversion, rubles are swapped for the hard currency that the Russian Central Bank holds in its $268 billion gold and foreign exchange reserves, the world’s third largest. The fund is currently accounted for as part of the reserves.

The ministry is collecting proposals from other government agencies on how to split the fund into two parts, an idea backed by President Vladimir Putin.

The split would be between a reserve fund cushioning the budget made up of highly liquid assets that can be converted into cash at any moment, and a future generations fund invested in blue-chip companies to maximize returns.

However, a senior official at the Economy Ministry told the Vedomosti business daily recently that the oil windfall should be spent on investment in ailing infrastructure and industry, signaling more policy debate in the near future.

Many Western economists said the split would help keep the fund out of reach of populist politicians keen to spend some of the oil wealth on welfare ahead of parliamentary elections in 2007.

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