Russia will start buying yuan again - Bloomberg

Moscow is reportedly beginning to buy foreign currency as early as this month to bolster reserves. The Finance Ministry is due to announce the resumption of foreign exchange purchases later this week, with initial volumes expected to be equivalent to about $200 million in yuan per month. The Chinese currency is viewed as the main asset Russia can use for transactions to refill its $154 billion national wealth fund. Russia halted foreign exchange purchases in late January 2022 and further suspended the program following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. At the beginning of this year, the Bank of Russia resumed operations with foreign currency due to soaring oil and gas revenues.

The shift from selling to buying would highlight Russia's ability to keep up the flow of petrodollars in the face of sanctions and the price cap imposed by the EU, G7, and their allies. Despite an "unprecedented deficit" which amounted to 2.4 trillion rubles ($29.8 billion) by the end of the first quarter, the Russian federal budget "is on the mend" partly due to changes in the calculations of some oil taxes.