Russia’s Reserve Fund falls 16%, Wealth Fund up 0.7% in August

MOSCOW, Sep 6 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Reserve Fund, which protects the budget against falls in oil prices, decreased 15.7% in August to U.S. $32.2 billion as of September 1, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The National Wealth Fund, designed to secure the country’s pension system, rose 0.7% to U.S. $72.71 billion.

In ruble terms, the Reserve Fund fell 18% to 2.1 trillion rubles and the National Wealth Fund decreased 3.6% to 4.719 trillion rubles.

The ministry confirmed that it spent money from the Reserve Fund to finance the budget deficit in August.

(64.7644 rubles – U.S. $1)

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