Page 59 - RusRPTMay20

5.2.4​ Gross international reserves
The international reserves of the Russian Federation increased in January-March 2020 by $5.0bn to $564.9bn ​vs $18.6bn in the first quarter of 2019, mainly due to the acquisition of foreign currency on the domestic market under the budget rule.
The breakdown of reserves were: FX $433.1bn, the IMF’s SDRs $6.631bn, IMF reserves $3.904 and gold $119.84bn.
The Ministry of Finance has worsened its outlook on Russia’s fiscal situation,​ with minister Anton Siluanov reducing the length of time that the National Welfare Fund can cover Russia’s budget shortfall. Speaking on Sunday before the global oil selloff, Siluanov noted that with oil prices at $20 per barrel, the Russian government will spend RUB2 trillion rubles from the NWF to cover the budget shortfall. By the end of the year, the Fund will hold RUB7 trillion. This will be enough to sustain government finances through 2024. Previously, Siluanov projected that the NWF had sufficient funds to cover any budget shortfall for six to ten years.
On April 1, the NWF held RUB11.1 trillion, ​or 9.8% of the government’s March forecast for 2020 GDP. On April 10, the government completed its purchase of Sberbank from the central bank using NWF funds. The transaction cost 2.14 trillion rubles, so approximately 9 trillion rubles remain in the NWF.
Russia’s investment in the US treasury bonds rose 19% to US $12.58bn in February​, reports PRIME on April 16, according to the data of the US Department of the Treasury. Of the total, $8.277bn are short-term bonds and $4.309bn are long-term bonds. Japan remained the largest US bondholder with $1.268 trillion, China was the second with $1.092 trillion.
59​ RUSSIA Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com