Page 87 - RusRPTJul23

5.2.4 Gross international reserves
Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF) experienced a slight decline to $153.1bn as of June 1, according to the country's finance ministry. This figure represents a decrease from the $155bn recorded on May 1.
The finance ministry highlighted that the NWF's value is equivalent to 8.2% of Russia's gross domestic product (GDP), a slight decrease from the 8.3% reported a month earlier.
The NWF serves as a reserve fund, accumulated from profits generated by Russia's oil and gas exports over the years.
As of early May, the fund held liquid assets amounting to RUB6.64 trillion in the liquid part of the fund, equivalent to 4.4% of GDP. This represents a decrease from the RUB6.83 trillion, or 4.6% of GDP, recorded the previous month.
In the first five months of this year, the finance ministry has already spent RUB439.5bn to cover the budget deficit.
The Ministry of Finance (MinFin) is sticking with its forecast of 2% federal budget deficit this year, despite the fact it hit is full year deficit target already after the first ten days of March. Oil and gas revenues collapsed in January, but MinFin says that these revenues will recover in the second half of this year. Analysts are more sceptical and believe the full year deficit will be closer to RUB4 trillion, or more. However, this amount is still covered by the money in the NWF.
The Finance Ministry in May continued to sell gold and Chinese yuan from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) to cover the budget deficit. The ministry sold 2.6 billion yuan and 3.85 tons of gold for a total of 48.96 billion rubles. Over the month, the NWF was reduced by 1%. On June 1, it held 12.35 trillion rubles, equivalent to 8.2% of Russia’s predicted 2023 GDP. The fund’s liquid assets dropped to 6.64 trillion rubles. This month, the Finance Ministry will sell 3.6 billion rubles worth of yuan each day, raising almost 75 billion rubles monthly. Additional oil and gas revenues in June will raise 44 billion rubles. Income in May 2023 turned out to be 30.6 billion rubles lower than anticipated.
87 RUSSIA Country Report July 2023 www.intellinews.com