Moscow
Russia said Thursday it will completely remove the U.S. dollar from its rainy day fund, a move intended to counter American pressure two weeks before a summit of the two countries’ leaders.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told an economic forum in St. Petersburg that the National Wealth Fund will turn its dollar-denominated assets into euros, yuan and gold.
He said the shift will take a month, and once it’s completed the fund will have 40% of its holdings in euros, 30% in yuan and 20% in gold, while the British pound and Japanese yen each will account for 5%. Officials didn’t immediately specify the current size of the fund’s dollar-denominated holdings.
The fund accumulates oil revenues to increase the country’s resilience to market fluctuations and help support major national projects.
It held about $186 billion-worth of total assets as of last month, part of the nation’s gold and hard currency reserves that stand at the equivalent of about $600 billion overall.
The announcement comes just two weeks before a scheduled summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden. —AP
