Russian National Wealth Fund falls 90.5 bln rubles in Feb to 13.5 trln rubles, liquid assets at 1.7% of GDP - MinFin
MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - The Russian National Wealth Fund (NWF) declined by 90.5 billion rubles in February 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 at 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 at 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.
There was a gain of 310.385 billion rubles on exchange rate differences on NWF forex assets and revaluation of its gold investments in the period from January 1 to February 28. There was a gain of 301.387 billion rubles on the revaluation of gold and 12.842 billion rubles on the revaluation of forex, but losses of 2.859 billion rubles on Ukrainian Eurobonds and 985 million rubles on forex-denominated securities of Russian issuers.
The total estimated return on NWF funds held in foreign currency accounts at the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) amounted to $21.2 million in the dollar equivalent, or 1.640 billion rubles in the period from December 15, 2025 to February 28, 2026.
In February, 523.9 million rubles from the NWF were placed in a deposit at state development corporation VEB.RF to finance a project to build, overhaul and operate electric ground transport infrastructure in Yaroslavl for a term to February 2043 with quarterly interest payments at an annual rate of 5%.
In February, Avia Capital Services partially redeemed bonds acquired with NWF money and 1.719 billion rubles were deposited in the fund's account. In addition, 1.020 billion rubles, 943.8 million rubles and 535.9 million rubles were deposited in the fund's account as a result of partial bond redemptions by, respectively, NLK Finance, state leasing company GTLK and Russian Highways (Avtodor).
VEB.RF returned 357 million rubles in February from deposits ahead of schedule that were provided to finance the KZhTs-1 and KZhTs-2 contracts to acquire subway cars for the Moscow Metro, and electric transport in Kursk and Krasnodar.
The NWF held 1.320 trillion rubles in deposits and subordinated deposits at VEB.RF as of March 1; 521.566 billion rubles in the bonds of state company Russian Highways (Avtodor); 258.630 billion rubles in the bonds of NLK Finance; 178.473 billion rubles in the bonds of Avia Capital Services LLC; 150 billion rubles in the bonds of PLC Territorial Development Fund; 180.663 billion rubles in the bonds of JSC GTLK; 60 billion rubles in the bonds of VK LLC; 411.912 billion rubles in the bonds of state corporation Rostec; 4.050 billion rubles in the bonds of Infrastructure Investments-4 LLC; and 63.7 billion rubles, $1.875 billion and 10 billion yuan in the bonds of other Russian issuers.
It also had $3 billion invested in Ukrainian Eurobonds.
NWF funds are also invested in the preferred shares of Russian Railways (RZD) (722.14 billion rubles), Atomenergoprom (57.5 billion rubles), VTB (214.04 billion rubles), GPB (194.95 billion rubles) and Russian Agricultural Bank (25 billion rubles); the common shares of DOM.RF (225.83 billion rubles), PJSC Aeroflot (132.06 billion rubles), GTLK (58.33 billion rubles), Sberbank (3.553 trillion rubles) and VTB (101.633 billion rubles); and subordinated deposits at GPB (204.112 billion rubles), Sberbank (94.226 billion rubles), VTB (293.206 billion rubles) and Sovcombank (29.573 billion rubles).
The federal budget received the equivalent of $46.7 million in revenue from NWF investments in February, including 398.2 million rubles on VEB.RF deposits; 2.025 billion rubles on investments in securities of Russian issuers related to the implementation of self-financing infrastructure projects; 220 million rubles on NLK Finance bonds; and 858.5 million rubles on the securities of other Russian issuers; as well as 85.5 million rubles on the subordinated deposit at Sovcombank.
Total income from NWF investments in permitted financial assets, other than funds in accounts at the Central Bank, totalled 10.429 billion rubles or $134.6 million in the period from the start of the year to February 28.
