Russia’s Rainy-Day Fund Lost Around $6 Billion in May

Liquid assets in Russia’s National Wealth Fund, the country’s rainy-day reserves, declined by 14% in May, as increasing spending on the war in Ukraine and falling oil prices squeeze the budget.

The fund’s readily usable resources declined to 2.8 trillion rubles ($35.7 billion) in the month, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. That’s a loss of 453.8 billion rubles ($5.8 billion) available for budget deficit financing.