Finance Ministry urges caution in expanding range of investments by sovereign funds
MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - Russia's Finance Ministry is not opposed to considering expanding the range of investment instruments for the Reserve Fund by including assets that are not denominated in reserve currencies, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters.
"To say that we will dramatically change the direction of investment - this is unlikely to happen, but we can consider this issue," Siluanov said, commenting on the Audit Chamber's proposal to invest money from the Reserve Fund and National Welfare Fund (NWF) in assets denominated in Australian dollars, Swiss francs, Canadian dollars and Japanese yen.
The sovereign funds are currently invested in assets denominated in U.S. dollars, euros and British pounds.
"If assets have the highest rating and we see the stability of the currencies of these assets, we can think about it, we can consider, but we need to be very careful," Siluanov said, remarking that any changes in the monetary policies of the world's leading countries affect all other countries and their own non-reserve currencies.
"We believe reserve currencies are the most stable," Siluanov said, stressing that therefore the structure of the funds' investments cannot be changed dramatically.