Russia's central bank sold four tonnes of gold and 2.59 billion yuan from the National Wealth Fund accounts to raise additional money to finance the budget deficit, according to the Finance Ministry."In May 2023 … a portion of NWF money at accounts with the Bank of Russia totaling 2.59 bln yuan and 3.86 metric tons of gold in the depersonalized form were sold at 48.967 bln rubles.
The Finance Ministry blamed May's low oil and gas revenues for the deficit, which fell 36% from the same period last year. In May, oil and gas revenues were 30.6 billion roubles below expectations. In June, the ministry expects a 44-billion-rouble shortfall from federal energy revenues. The NWF holds Russia's oil revenues and was created to help support the pension system."NWF is dedicated to support pension system of the Russian Federation to guarantee long-term sound functioning of the system," the Finance Ministry's website states. The Fund's primary mission is to"co-finance voluntary pension savings of Russian citizens and to balance budget of Pension Fund of the Russian Federation.
Back in January, Russia already sold 3.6 tonnes of gold and 2.3 billion Chinese yuan from the NWF to cover the budget deficit as income from oil and gas revenues fell. This marked the first move of its kind.