Archived

Russia is increasing foreign-currency sales from the National Wealth Fund [NWF] to address a growing budget deficit after oil and gas revenues plunged to their lowest level since January 2023.

Russia’s Central Bank, acting on Finance Ministry instructions, will sell yuan on the Moscow Exchange at a rate of 9.8 billion rubles ($124 million) per day from July 7 to Aug. 6, an increase of 2.5 billion rubles ($31 million) per day compared to June.

This marks the second time in 2025 that the Kremlin has dipped into the NWF a sovereign reserve built largely from oil and gas revenues, to manage fiscal shortfalls.

But the fund's remaining liquidity is shrinking fast.

At the start of July, the NWF’s liquid assets stood at 4.1 trillion rubles ($52.6 billion), including 1.3 trillion rubles in yuan and gold acquired during last year’s oil-price windfall.

[The fund's main responsibiliy is to support the Russian pension system, but it is also used to fund budget deficits.]

[...]