MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Finance Ministry completed October 16 the placement of Stabilization Fund money in foreign currency accounts with the Central Bank, the ministry's press office said Wednesday.
"The account recording the Stabilization Fund's money in rubles registered a zero balance," the press office said.
As of the end of October 16, Stabilization Fund money placed on foreign currency accounts with the Central Bank totaled $31.88 billion, 25.04 billion euros and 3.77 billion pounds Sterling.
In July-October 2006, the Finance Ministry converted a total of 1,898 billion rubles (about $70.3 billion), including 383.97 billion rubles (about $14.2 billion) in October, into foreign currency, in accordance with the Budget Code and a government resolution on the procedure for managing the Stabilization Fund, established to accrue surplus revenues from high world oil prices.
"The conversion transactions were carried out in accordance with the earlier approved foreign currency structure and had no effect on the foreign exchange market," the press office said.
The government resolution stipulates an option to invest Stabilization Fund money in the highly liquid debt securities of foreign states by way of acquiring foreign exchange and placing it in Federal Treasury foreign currency accounts with the Bank of Russia.
Stabilization Fund money may be invested only in the premium debt obligations of industrialized nations, such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Great Britain, the United States and others. The securities must have a rating of AAA (in accordance with the classification of Fitch Ratings or Standard & Poor's), or Aaa (Moody's Investors Service), assigned by at least two of the above three international rating agencies.
