Putin Approves Military Focused 2025-2027 Budget

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Governor of the Kirov region in Moscow, Russia, 29 November 2024.  EPA/VYACHESLAV PROKOFIEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Governor of the Kirov region in Moscow, Russia, 29 November 2024. EPA/VYACHESLAV PROKOFIEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL
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Putin Approves Military Focused 2025-2027 Budget

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Governor of the Kirov region in Moscow, Russia, 29 November 2024.  EPA/VYACHESLAV PROKOFIEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with the Governor of the Kirov region in Moscow, Russia, 29 November 2024. EPA/VYACHESLAV PROKOFIEV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a military focused budget for 2025-2027, a document published on the official legal acts website showed on Sunday.
The state budget for next year includes a 25% hike in military spending but will be the most secretive in post-Soviet history, with almost a third of all spending closed to public scrutiny, Reuters reported.
The government has acknowledged that the needs of what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine and support for the military will remain the budget priority along with social needs and technological development.
The government has presented the draft budget as "balanced", with the deficit falling to 0.5% against this year's projected deficit of 1.7% and state debt remaining below the 20% mark for the next three years.



Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
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Gold Falls to One-week Low as Dollar Firms after Tariff Deadline Extension

FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: An employee places ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/File Photo

Gold prices retreated to a one-week low on Monday as the dollar firmed and traders digested US President Donald Trump's extension of his July 9 tariff deadline to August 1 and assertion that the US is close to several trade deals.

Spot gold was down 0.8% at $3,307.87 an ounce at 1302 GMT after hitting its lowest since June 30 at $3,296.09. US gold futures lost 0.7% to $3,318.

The stronger dollar, up 0.2% against a basket of other major currencies, makes dollar-priced gold more expensive for buyers with other currencies, Reuters reported.

"The market volumes remain quiet at this moment, and price action is probably still just reflecting the latest piece of economic data, but also starting to look forward to the potential for trade deals to be announced," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.

Last week's stronger than expected US payroll data cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates as early as previously expected.

Minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting and speeches by several Fed officials are due this week for further insights into the central bank's policy path.

Elsewhere, China's central bank added gold to its reserves in June for an eighth consecutive month, official data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) showed on Monday.

"The PBoC in particular has been diversifying foreign exchange reserves substantially and an uptick in uncertainty and geopolitical risk may speed up the process," said Zain Vawda, analyst at MarketPulse by OANDA.

In other precious metals, spot silver fell 1.6% to $36.32 an ounce, platinum shed 2.9% to $1,350.97 and palladium lost 3% to $1,100.65.