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A few advanced countries have been more adept at dealing with the resource curse. Russia, for example, decided to prevent the “Venezuelaization” of its economy when oil prices spiked in 2005 by following the model pioneered by Norway. Russian President Vladimir Putin created a Stabilization Fund so that the country would not “blow its oil windfall on profligate government spending, risking an unpleasant fiscal and economic crunch when oil prices fall.”1 In February 2008, the $150 million dollar fund was split in half: the Reserve Fund has the original fund’s goal of maintaining long term economic stability while the new National Welfare is used to bolster the country’s national pension scheme.2 It represents an attempt to create internal pressure to keep the government honest.
1 “Russia: The Curse of $50 a Barrel”
2 Kramer; “Russian Government to Decide”