Russia Sells 23.5 Tons of Gold from the National Wealth Fund for Aviation Industry

In August, the Russian National Wealth Fund (NWF) decreased by 9.7 tons of gold and 5.7 billion yuan, leaving 131.5 tons of gold and 184 billion yuan as of September 1. Since the beginning of 2026, the NWF has sold 23.5 tons of gold, which accounts for 16% of the volume at the start of January. The gold sales in the first quarter were aimed at compensating for the decline in oil and gas revenues, while in August, the funds were used to cover expenses of the state corporation "Rostec." The volume of investments from the NWF for the month amounted to about 190 billion rubles, exceeding the total for the first half of the year. The majority of investments, 115.3 billion rubles, were allocated to bonds of a subsidiary of "Rostec," while 67 billion rubles were invested in securities of "Rostec" itself. These funds are intended for subsidized leasing of domestic aircraft and expanding aircraft production. Russian civil aviation is facing a shortage of equipment, and the fleet of foreign planes is shrinking faster than domestic alternatives can be produced. "Rostec"'s promises to manufacture 100 passenger aircraft per year by 2030 have not been fulfilled, and last year, carriers did not receive a single Russian airliner. Federal budget expenditures for the war against Ukraine in the first half of 2026 reached 10.687 trillion rubles.