Russia decided to “dip Biden to the maximum before the meeting”
The government has decided to completely abandon investments of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) in dollar assets.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters about this at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We, like the Central Bank, decided to reduce investments of the National Welfare Fund in dollar assets. If today our structure is about 35% of the National Welfare Fund's investments in dollars, 35% in euros, then we decided to exit dollar assets completely, replacing investments in dollars with an increase in euros and an increase in gold. Dollars – 0%, euros – 40%, yuan – 30%, gold – 20%, pounds and yen – 5% each,” Siluanov said.
According to him, the replacement will happen “quite quickly, within a month.”
Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Volodin welcomed the decision of the Ministry of Finance.
“It is right to support this decision. In conditions where economic sanctions are introduced to suit the political situation, the dollar can be used as a tool of blackmail and pressure. This happened several times. For example, in the situation with Iran. Our country’s departure from dollar dependence is a consistent step that strengthens the financial and economic sovereignty of Russia,” Volodin wrote.
Political scientists are confident that it was no coincidence that the announcement of the move away from the dollar occurred on the eve of the summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States.
“It will be done in a month. But of course it was important to announce this now - before the meeting between Putin and Biden. To immerse Biden before the meeting as much as possible where he doesn’t want to go is now always,” wrote Sergei Markov.
Economist Nikita Krichevsky, on the contrary, criticizes the decision.
“Siluanov was dumbfounded that “unnecessary” dollars would be spent on euros, gold and yuan. The share of the latter will double, to 30%. And this is on the eve of another depreciation of the Chinese currency. Well done, exchange all your currency for yuan, you're a man.
The only option that absolutely everyone would perceive positively, and Americans with understanding, would be to direct dollars to domestic projects, or even to repair school toilets, or to revive lost aviation infrastructure, for example, in Siberia and the Far East,” Krichevsky wrote .
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