The Russian Finance Ministry proposed to amend the federal budget estimate for 2016, according to which the acquisition amount of precious metals and stones to the Russian State Repository for Precious Metals is limited to 5.018 billion rubles, according to the draft of a bill published on the federal portal of legal acts.
Originally, 11.962 billion rubles has been allocated for this purpose in the budget.
Previously, Alexey Moiseyev, Deputy Finance Minister, reported that the government decided on the precious metals purchases, mainly diamonds, in the amount of 5 billion rubles in the current year. In 2014 and 2015, the Russian State Repository for Precious Metals did not buy precious metals. The remaining funds will be allocated for the purchase of gold and other precious metals. However, due to the uncertain price environment, the decision was postponed.
Andrey Yurin, head of the Russian State Repository for Precious Metals, also confirmed that the state fund has no plans to purchase diamonds and precious metals this year.