Russian Finance Ministry sources have told Reuters that the country has plans to borrow $18 billion from abroad in 2010, which is almost double the external borrowing level for this year.

It will also raise more through increased gas taxes, in order to fund the budget deficit.

The majority of the deficit will come from the country’s oil wealth, while it plans to up taxes charged for gas use to raise a further $2 billion. The government has been spending in order to help the country to recover from the latest economic crisis.

A further 681 billion roubles may come from the National Welfare Fund. A Financial Ministry source told Reuters, ‘we decided to take more from the NWF so that we can reduce borrowing and lower [the cost of] servicing.”

The Financial Ministry told Interfax on Thursday that the budget deficit for next year is set to total 3.2 trillion roubles ($103 billion). Officials claims the deficit will be between 6.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent of the GDP for the year and will not exceed 8 per cent.