SWF Radar RussianReserveFund

AP reports that Russia may have to tap its $130 bln Reserve Fund to help state finances. $16.3 bln from Russia’s National [Wealth] Fund has already been used.

RIA Novosti reports that, “Russia’s Reserve Fund grew in ruble terms from October 1 to November 1 to reach 3.57 trillion rubles ($134.6 billion), while the National Prosperity Fund [also known as the National Wealth Fund] contracted to 1.66 trillion rubles ($62.8 billion).”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Russia has no plans to tap its $141 billion Reserve Fund - which serves to cushion the budget from oil price shocks - in 2008, despite the falling oil price, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.”

Today’s Zaman writes that, “Russia’s government is sitting on a giant pile of cash that it plans to invest in foreign assets. The glimpse of its economic muscle was revealed this week when the Prime Minister of Iceland announced that Russia may come with about $5 billion to save its troubled economy.”

The article adds that, “The government’s Reserve Fund, created to cushion the economy from a fall in oil prices, stands at $140 billion, and the National Welfare Fund, intended mainly to solve the coming pension crisis, holds another $30 billion. The NWF, though not yet officially a “sovereign wealth fund,” is already among the 10 largest such funds, rivaling the Brunei Investment Agency. A combined Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund (excluding the half-trillion dollars in foreign-exchange reserves) would rival Singapore’s Temasek Holdings (currently sixth in the world) and lag just behind the China Investment Corporation. By design, these funds are intended to be invested outside Russia.”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Russia will use one of its oil wealth funds to fund 450 billion roubles ($17.19 billion) of the 950 billion rouble subordinate loans package for banks, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.”

The article does not identify which of Russia’s two funds (the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Russian Reserve Fund) it would use.

Thomson Reuters reports that, “Russia’s two oil wealth funds [the Reserve Fund and the National Wealth Fund] totalled 4.79 trillion roubles ($189.7) as of Oct. 1, around eight percent higher than a month ago, Finance Ministry data showed on Wednesday.”

RIA Novosti reports that, “Russia’s Finance Ministry does not deem it possible now to use the Reserve Fund or the National [Wealth] Fund to support the stock market, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting Thursday.”

RosBusinessConsulting reports that, “Russia’s National Wealth Fund is expected to amount to over $100bn by the end of 2008, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin told a press conference in Moscow today.”

On the same subject, Thomson Reuters writes that, “Russia has filled up its Reserve Fund for this year, and further cash from high oil prices will go to its National Wealth Fund, which is earmarked for riskier investments, its deputy finance minister said on Wednesday.”

RIA Novosti reports that, “Russia’s Finance Ministry gave assurances on Saturday that the tumbling share prices of the two largest U.S. mortgage lenders will not harm Russia’s Reserve and National Prosperity [National Wealth] funds.”

Thomson Reuters reports that, “The Russian government is in talks with UBS and other Swiss banks on the management of its two oil wealth funds [the Reserve Fund and the National Wealth Fund(NWF)] which total $163 billion, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said on Tuesday.”