The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported on Thursday that
the nation’s gold and foreign exchange reserves reached $528.4 billion, rising
by $1.3 billion in one week.
The
amount in international reserves has been above the central bank’s target level
of half-a-trillion dollars for 11 consecutive weeks. The regulator explained
that the reserves rose thanks to positive revaluation and the purchases of
foreign currency within the framework of the budget rule.
The
international reserves are comprised of highly-liquid foreign assets at the
disposal of the Central Bank and the Russian government, including foreign
currencies, monetary gold, and Special Drawing Right (SDR) assets.
Russia
has been boosting its international holdings lately with Fitch Ratings forecasting that the figure will keep rising and will reach
$591 billion by 2021. At the same time Moscow wants to decrease the economy’s
reliance on the US dollar. For this purpose, the central bank has been
decreasing its share of the greenback and stockpiling gold bullion.
Russian
gold reserves alone, which account for 19.6 percent of the total national
reserves, rose by 9 tons in July bringing Russia’s stockpile to a total of
2,217.68 tons, valued at $101.923 billion. Last year, Russia was recognized as
the world’s largest purchaser of gold, after it added 275 tons to its coffers,
the largest amount ever purchased in a single year, according to the World Gold
Council.
Source:
RT