ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. / TASS /: The decision to exclude dollar assets from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) is forced solution, Alexey Kudrin, the head of the Russian Audit Chamber, told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday.
"On the whole, it is forced," said Kudrin, answering the question whether this is the right decision. He stressed that the exclusion of the dollar from the NWF will not affect the turnover of the American currency in Russia.
"When we have already gone to $40 billion in the make-up of it, then leaving to zero is nothing," Kudrin noted. "This does not change the system of dollar turnover in Russia, it does not change the system of exchangers or the desire of people to keep this dollar. It's just a matter of what foreign assets are best stored in. In this sense, of course, taking into account the sanctions and fears of deterioration of settlements in dollars, which are controlled US banks authorized by the Federal Reserve System, this is rather a step of caution," he added.
Earlier, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that within a month Russia would completely abandon the US dollar in the structure of the National Wealth Fund (NWF) and reduce the share of the British pound from 10% to 5%. The share of the euro in the NWF will grow to 40%, the yuan -from 15% to 30%, the share of the Japanese yen will not change and will remain at 5%. In addition, gold will also appear in the structure of the NWF, its share will be 20%.
The 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 2-5. The forum’s business program will focus on the global and Russian economies, social issues, and technological development. TASS is the information partner and the official photo hosting agency of the forum.
