Hi folks!
And now for @tochnyi.info's (slightly delayed) monthly coverage of the slow-motion crash of Russia's piggy bank, the so-called NWF.
Of course, the decembers numbers were highly expected. Let's see what they reveal.
And now for @tochnyi.info's (slightly delayed) monthly coverage of the slow-motion crash of Russia's piggy bank, the so-called NWF.
Of course, the decembers numbers were highly expected. Let's see what they reveal.
Comments
looks like we have 1 year left until we hit rock bottom
UNLESS...
we just steal all the lifes savings of our russian serfs that they stupidly store in their russian bank accounts thinking its safe in there
Very cool research articles too such as the recent and excellent look at the actual cost for Russia of its decenal deployment to Syria: https://tochnyi.info/2025/01/russian-military-involvement-in-syria-2015-2024-the-cost-to-russia/
A quick look back at the year 2024 shows that the situation of the liquid part of the fund was already difficult.
That part of the fund holds two main assets: Chinese Yuan and gold.
Over the year, the MinFin kept digging into its gold (benefitting from the rising prices).
As the CNY had barely been touched, overall, the fund had declined by 11% in book value ($5.2bn).
But we all knew that the big drop was going to be posted in Jan 25.
In our little group the trepidation was palpable
The gapping deficit was over ₽4tr ($40bn) and could easily still increase.
The NWF's last hurrah was barely adhequate to fill that gap.
https://bsky.app/profile/prune602.bsky.social/post/3lenbtfh5kc22
But the symbol was terrible. The piggy bank had once been nicknamed Fortress Russia, with it gone the Kremlin would find itself without it financial bulwark.
Difficult to find a better example of the non-sustainability of the war.
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/gold-reserves
Nah, just jocking.
Typically when referring to the gold reserves, we mean the central bank’s gold reserves, ie an independent institution designed to manage the currency.
The NWF is a fund managed by the Ministry of Finance, its gold is just an asset.
There maaaaay be a question relative to the gold held by the CBR for other central banks. Fort Knox used to host a lot of European gold reserves for instance.
But who would be crazy enough to trust Russia now?