China praises Russia’s decision to convert its U.S. dollar holdings to yuan
The Chinese authorities welcome the increase in the yuan's share in the Russian National Welfare Fund (NWF), said at a briefing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
"We welcome a significant increase in the share of renminbi (the official name of the Chinese currency) in the holdings of the Russian National Welfare Fund. This demonstrates Russia's confidence in China's economic growth and prospects for China-Russia cooperation," he said.
"We will continue to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia, firmly support each other in international and regional issues and defend the common interests of the two countries," the diplomat said.
On July 5, the Russian Ministry of Finance completed operations to bring the holdings of the National Welfare Fund to the new regulatory structure. As a result, the US dollar was removed from the NWF’s holdings, the share of British pound was reduced to 5%, the share of the euro and the yuan increased to 39.7% and to 30.4%, respectively, the share of the yen was 4.7%, and the share of gold - 20.2%.
During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that Russia within a month will completely remove the U.S. dollar from the NWF’s holdings and reduce the share of the British pound, while the share of the euro and yuan and gold will be increased, and the share of the yen will not change.