With the final deposit made in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for 2022, the government will be able to withdraw a total of US$1.007b ($209b) for use in the 2023 budget.
The total amount in the NRF at the end of 2022 was US$1.264b.
The formula in the National Resource Fund Act for withdrawals from the Fund sets out the total that could be applied to the next year’s budget. According to the First Schedule of the Act, 100% of the first US$500m paid into the fund in the immediately preceding year can be tapped; 75% of the second US$500m and 50% of the third US$500m. Taken all together, this would mean that US$1.007b would be available for the 2023 budget. This figure is 65.8% higher than the US$607.6m that was available for the 2022 budget.
Importantly, the end of year total means that US$257m is now available in the Fund for investment for future generations. It would now mean that the investment committee catered for by the NRF Act will now have to begin carefully investing this sum to generate returns for the fund.
