Russia's National Wealth Fund falls 10.1 bln rubles in July to 13.08 trln rubles, liquid assets 1.8% of GDP

MOSCOW. Aug 6 (Interfax) - Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF) fell slightly in June by 10.124 billion rubles following substantial growth in June and a drop in May.

The NWF's liquid assets declined to 1.8% of GDP from 1.9% the previous month.

The NWF was 13.08 trillion rubles as of August 1, equivalent to $159.84 billion, or 5.9% of GDP projected for the year, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. The NWF was 13.09 trillion rubles or $166.826 billion, and 5.9% of GDP on July 1.

The NWF liquid assets were 3.953 trillion rubles, or $48.304 billion, as of August 1, and 1.8% of GDP projected for the year. They were 4.128 trillion rubles or $52.607 billion and 1.9% of projected GDP on July 1.

Some 600,000 rubles were credited to the federal budget's single account to co-finance the pension accruals of persons who paid additional contributions to funded pensions in July this year.

Also in July, 200 billion rubles from the NWF were placed on a subordinated deposit at VTB to finance an infrastructure project with annual interest payments at a rate equal to the Central Bank of Russia's key rate.

Another 133.424 billion rubles were placed on a VEB.RF deposit to finance an infrastructure project with annual interest payments at a rate equal to the Central Bank of Russia's key rate.

In addition, 995.7 million rubles were placed on a deposit at VEB.RF until August 2047 to finance the renewal of rolling stock for the St. Petersburg Metro with monthly interest payments at 5% per annum.

NWF accounts held 179.097 tonnes of unallocated gold as of August 1, down from 211.954 tonnes on July 1. In addition to 58.96 tonnes of gold being used to finance the deficit in December, gold has been sold from the account as part of the management of the liquid portion, and the proceeds used to finance certain projects, the Finance Ministry said earlier. NWF accounts held 139.509 tonnes of unallocated gold on June 1, 168.061 tonnes on May 1, 168.271 tonnes at the start of April, 174.627 tonnes at the beginning of March, 178.996 tonnes at the beginning of February, 187.749 tonnes at the beginning of January and 279.563 tonnes at the beginning of December.

NWF accounts held 210.209 billion yuan on August 1, down from 214.821 billion yuan on July 1, 153.698 billion yuan on June 1 and 164.597 billion yuan on May 1.

NWF accounts also contained 419.6 million rubles on August 1.

NLK Finance in July partially redeemed bonds purchased with the NWF funds, with 804.7 million rubles credited to the fund's account at the Central Bank. The NWF received another 474.1 million rubles from the partial redemption of STLC bonds.

VEB in July prepaid 323.9 million rubles of NWF funds placed in deposits to fund the acquisition and leasing of LCC-1 and LCC-2 carriages for the Moscow Metro and a project in Kursk.

As of August 1, the NWF had 1.24 trillion rubles in deposits and subordinated deposits with VEB, 121.489 billion rubles in subordinated deposits with Gazprombank, 94.2 billion rubles with Sberbank, 293.18 billion rubles with VTB and 29.565 billion rubles with Sovcombank.

It had $3 billion invested in Ukrainian Eurobonds, 527.166 billion rubles in Russian Highways Group bonds, 268.633 billion rubles in NLK Finance bonds, 175.389 billion rubles in Aviacapital Service bonds, 145.034 billion rubles in Territories Development Fund bonds, 185.293 billion rubles in STLC bonds, 60 billion rubles in VK LLC bonds, 370.21 billion rubles in Rostec bonds, 4.05 billion rubles in Infrastructure Investment-4 LLC bonds and 58.4 billion rubles, $1.875 billion and 10 billion yuan in bonds of other Russian issuers.

The fund had 3.483 trillion rubles invested in ordinary shares in Sberbank, 90.992 billion rubles in VTB, 134.52 billion rubles in Aeroflot, 137 billion rubles in DOM.RF and 58.334 billion rubles in STLC. It also had preferred shares of 722.14 billion rubles in Russian Railways, 57.5 billion rubles in JSC Atomenergoprom, 214.038 billion rubles in VTB, 164.954 billion rubles in Gazprombank and 25 billion rubles in Russian Agricultural Bank.

Total estimated income from placing NWF funds in foreign currency accounts with the Bank of Russia, converted into dollars, for the period from December 15, 2024, to July 31, 2025 was $53.7 million, equivalent to 4.396 billion rubles.

The exchange rate difference on the balance of the fund's assets denominated in foreign currency between January 1 and July 31 was negative 316.028 billion rubles. It was positive 41.009 billion rubles in gold but negative 59.535 billion rubles on Ukrainian Eurobonds and negative 57.806 billion rubles on securities of Russian issuers denominated in foreign currency.

The federal budget in July received income from the placement of funds from the NWF from the securities of Russian issuers related to self-sustaining infrastructure projects totaling 2.098 billion rubles, from deposits with VEB.RF totaling 3.583 billion rubles, from Gazprombank totaling 623 million rubles, from NLK Finance bonds totaling 178.6 million rubles, from STLC bonds totaling 700.8 million rubles and from securities of other unspecified Russian issuers totaling 809.2 million rubles or the equivalent of $101.9 million.

Total income from the placement of NWF funds in permitted financial assets since the beginning of the year, excluding funds in accounts with the Bank of Russia, was 45.33 billion rubles or the equivalent of $536.5 million.

As of June 1, the NWF's volume was nearly 11.696 trillion rubles, equivalent to $148.776 billion, or 5.5% of GDP projected for the year. On May 1 it was 11.792 trillion rubles, equivalent to $144.575 billion, or 5.5% of GDP projected for the year. On April 1, it was 11.751 trillion rubles, equivalent to $140.422 billion, or 5.5% of GDP. On March 1, it was 11.881 trillion rubles, equivalent to $135.47 billion, 5.5% of GDP. On February 1, it was 11.966 trillion rubles, equivalent to $122.1 billion, 5.6% of GDP. In January, the fund grew by 85.8 billion rubles.