OREANDA-NEWS   The Ministry of Finance decided to increase the marginal share of yuan in the currency structure of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) to 80%, gold to 40% and remove euros, pounds and yen from it, this is stated in the order of the ministry, Vedomosti writes, citing sources.

The currency structure of the NWF began to change in 2021. Initially, the structure of the fund's investments was as follows: 45% each for the dollar and euro, 10% for the pound sterling.

In February 2021, the yuan and yen appeared in it - 15% and 5%, the shares of the dollar and euro decreased to 35%. In parallel, amendments to the Budget Code were adopted, allowing the placement of part of the NWF funds in precious metals.

Later, the Ministry of Finance announced its decision to exclude the dollar from the structure, and on July 5 of the same year, the conversion operations necessary to bring the actual structure of the fund's funds to new standards were completed. As a result, the dollar was excluded, the share of the pound sterling was reduced to 5%, the shares of the euro and yuan were increased to 39.7% and 30.4%, respectively, the share of the Japanese yen was 4.7%, and the share of gold was 20.2%.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on December 27 that the Finance Ministry could start buying yuan in the NWF as part of the budget rule in January. "Let's see what the situation will be in January, and, accordingly, in January, if the situation is favorable, we will be able to start replenishing the NWF, including with yuan," he said. The ministry will make a decision to enter the market with the purchase of yuan to replenish the NWF on the basis of an assessment of the monthly fulfillment of the annual benchmark of oil and gas revenues of 8 trillion rubles.

"The issue has been agreed with the Central Bank, the rule will work from January, the mechanism has been clarified: 8 trillion rubles, everything from above - there (in the NWF - IF), everything below - from there (from the NWF - IF). We will make an assessment from monthly indicators and, accordingly, we will make a decision on replenishing or not replenishing the NWF," he said at the final briefing, explaining how the Ministry of Finance will act when making a decision to buy foreign currency without relying on the price of oil.

As of December 1, 41.898 billion euros, 2.767 billion pounds, 478.48 billion Japanese yen, 309.72 billion Chinese yuan, as well as 554,911 kg of gold in depersonalized form and 242.7 million rubles were placed on separate accounts for the accounting of NWF funds in the Bank of Russia.