ister
Russian Finance Ministry has decided to
reduce the funds of the NWF invested in
dollar assets and replace them by an
increase in the euro and gold
By TassJune 07, 2021 "Information
Clearing House" -
- "TASS"
- ST. PETERSBURG, June 3. /TASS/.
Russia plans to fully abandon the US
greenback in the structure of the
National Wealth Fund (NWF) and reduce
the share of the British pound within a
month, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov
revealed on the sidelines of the St.
Petersburg International Economic Forum
on Thursday, adding that the share of
euro and yuan will rise, gold will be
added, but the portfolio of Japanese yen
will remain unchanged in the NWF.
"We, just like the Central Bank, have
decided to reduce the funds of the NWF
invested in dollar assets. Today’s
structure has around 35% of the NWF’s
funds invested in dollars. We have
decided to fully withdraw from dollar
assets, replacing investments in dollars
by an increase in the euro, in gold," he
said, adding that the shift to a new
structure of the NWF is expected within
a month.
"[Investments] in dollars will equal
0%; in euro they’ll come to 40%; in yuan
they’ll amount to 30%; in gold - 20%;
and in pounds and yuan - 5% each. We
have substituted dollars with an
increase of 5% in euro, gold and yuan,"
the finance chief explained.
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"The Central Bank is the operator
(regarding gold purchases - TASS). It
operates its gold and currency reserves
and defines the structure of its assets
for the National Wealth Fund and the
share of the National Wealth Fund in
those assets itself," he said.
Currently, the share of the greenback
and the EU’s currency in the NWF stands
at 35%, with the yuan’s share at 15%,
the sterling pound at 10%, and the yen
at 5%.
Russian investment in the US public
debt
Russia began to sharply reduce
investment in the US public debt in the
spring of 2018. Thus, in April 2018 it
decreased from $96 bln to $48.7 bln, and
in May - to $14.9 bln. In August 2019,
for the first time since February,
Russia increased its investments in US
government securities to $9.3 bln.
Meanwhile, in March 2020, Russia cut
investments in the US government stocks
more than three-fold compared with
February - from $12.58 bln to $3.85 bln.
In April, investments were increased
again to $6.85 bln due to short-term
bonds. In May 2020, Moscow cut
investments from $6.85 bln to $5.39 bln.
According to the latest figures
provided by the US Department of the
Treasury, Russia reduced investments in
US public securities from $5.756 bln in
February to $3.976 bln in March.
The St. Petersburg International
Economic Forum, organized by the
Roscongress Foundation, is taking place
on June 2-5. The topic of this year’s
forum is "Together Again - Economy of
New Reality". TASS is the information
partner and the official photo hosting
agency of SPIEF.