Russian National Wealth Fund falls 90.5 bln rubles in Feb to 13.5 trln rubles, liquid assets 1.7% of GDP - MinFin

MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - The Russian National Wealth Fund (NWF) declined in February, by 90.5 billion rubles after growing 224.1 billion rubles in January and 156 billion rubles in December, according to data published on the Finance Ministry website.

The NWF amounted to 13.549 trillion rubles, equivalent to $175.335 billion, or 5.8% of GDP at the end of February. A month earlier, it was 13.639 trillion rubles, equivalent to $180.097 billion or 5.8% of GDP.

The NWF's liquid assets were the equivalent of 4.005 trillion rubles, or $51.828 billion, as of March 1, or 1.7% of forecast GDP for the year. They were 4.226 trillion rubles or $55.808 billion and 1.8% of GDP on February 1 and 4.085 trillion rubles or $52.22 billion and 1.9% of projected GDP on January 1.

In February, 13.277 billion yuan and 7.897 tonnes of unallocated gold were sold for 244.417 billion rubles. The proceeds were credited to the federal budget's single account to finance the budget deficit.

NWF accounts held 147.197 tonnes of unallocated gold as of March 1, down from 155.094 tonnes on February 1 and 160.24 tonnes on January 1.

Yuan holdings fell to 188.087 billion yuan, from 201.066 billion yuan on February 1.