Russia's National Wealth Fund grows 20.5 bln rubles in Sept to 13.16 trln rubles, liquid assets 1.9% of GDP

MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - Russia's National Wealth Fund (NWF) rose in September by 20.5 billion rubles after growing 62 billion rubles in August and falling slightly in July.

The NWF totaled 13.163 trillion rubles as of October 1, equivalent to $158.84 billion, or 5.9% of GDP projected for the year, the Finance Ministry said. The NWF was 13.142 trillion rubles or $163.6 billion, and 5.9% of GDP on September 1.

The NWF's liquid assets were the equivalent of 4.165 trillion rubles, or $50.26 billion, as of October 1, and 1.9% of GDP projected for the year. They were 3.927 trillion rubles or $48.89 billion and 1.8% of projected GDP on September 1.

NWF accounts held 173.1 tonnes of unallocated gold as of October 1, down from 178.261 tonnes on September 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, explaining the drop in NWF gold.

NWF accounts held 209.152 billion yuan on October 1, unchanged from September 1, when they fell from 210.209 billion yuan on August 1 and 214.821 billion yuan on July 1.

NWF accounts also contained 473.7 million rubles on October 1.