Russia Resumes Currency and Gold Purchases After Year of Asset Sales

The Russian Ministry of Finance will resume purchases of foreign currency and gold under the budget rule for the first time in a year. Until now, the department had been selling assets each month, and in March-April 2026 it suspended all such operations entirely.

Photo: ru.wikipedia.org by Ludvig14, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Russian Finance Ministry building

In May and early June 2026, the Ministry of Finance will purchase foreign currency and gold worth 5.8 billion rubles per day, according to an official statement.

"The total volume of funds allocated for the purchase of foreign currency and gold, within additional oil and gas revenues of the federal budget in May 2026, taking into account deferred operations for March and April 2026, amounts to 110.3 billion rubles. Operations will be conducted from May 8, 2026, to June 4, 2026, with daily purchases equivalent to 5.8 billion rubles,” the ministry said.

The ministry did not disclose the deviation between actual and projected oil and gas revenues, which typically determines the scale of such operations.

Central Bank to Mirror Operations

The Bank of Russia will continue to mirror these operations on the domestic foreign exchange market. It will purchase currency (primarily yuan) worth 5.8 billion rubles per day, while simultaneously selling currency worth 4.62 billion rubles daily, reflecting earlier investments from the National Wealth Fund (NWF).

As a result, the net volume of currency purchases by the central bank will amount to 1.18 billion rubles per day.

How the Budget Rule Works

The budget rule is designed to reduce the dependence of federal budget revenues and the exchange rate on commodity prices. Under the current mechanism, if oil prices exceed the base level of $59 per barrel, the surplus revenue is directed toward purchasing foreign currency and gold for the National Wealth Fund.

If oil prices fall below this threshold, the Ministry of Finance instead sells currency and gold from the fund.

Shift After Months of Asset Sales

The last time the Ministry of Finance purchased currency and gold was in June 2025, when daily operations amounted to 2.3 billion rubles. From July 2025 through February 2026, the ministry only sold assets due to declining oil prices, with peak daily sales reaching 12.8 billion rubles in January 2026.

Starting in March 2026, operations were suspended amid discussions about adjusting the base oil price. However, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov later confirmed that the cutoff price would remain unchanged at $59 per barrel.

The ministry subsequently announced plans to resume operations in May, incorporating deferred volumes from March and April into the new purchase schedule.