MOSCOW, September 30 (RAPSI) – The Russian government has submitted a bill to the State Duma to extend a moratorium on the transfer of pension accruals to non-state pension funds into 2015, RIA Novosti has reported on Tuesday, citing the government’s press service.

In early August, the government decided to extend the pension moratorium into 2015, with insurance payments to be invested fully in the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) component of future pensions. The 2014 budget savings on transfers to the Pension Fund reached 243 billion rubles (over $6 billion) due to the freezing of pension accruals.

The extension of the moratorium into 2015 would save another 309 billion rubles ($7.8 billion). Part of these funds would be transferred into the anti-crisis reserve to support oil and gas companies and financial institutions targeted by Western sanctions, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said.

A week ago, the Finance Ministry submitted a bill to the government on transferring 500 billion rubles ($12.7 billion) of the 2013 pension accruals to non-state pension funds in 2015, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said.

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev argued at the international investment forum in Sochi that the government should repay all the pension accruals that were frozen in 2013-2014, as well as those that will be frozen in 2015.

However, Moiseyev said the government was only discussing the repayment of about 500 billion rubles ($12.7 billion) that were “borrowed” from the funded part of pensions in 2013. The other funds cannot be repaid because they have been redistributed in the budget system, the deputy minister said.