Russia boosts forex reserves despite Covid-19 pandemic, raising them to almost $570 BILLION

Russian gold and foreign currency holdings have increased to a total of $568.3 billion, according to the latest data released by the country’s central bank.

The international funds increased by $500 million, or nearly 0.1 percent, as of June 26, compared to the previous week, and are up around $9 billion since the beginning of the year. The regulator said the holdings rose “as a result of growing gold prices, partially offset by the sale of foreign currency on the domestic foreign exchange market.”

The state international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets comprising stocks of monetary gold, foreign currencies and Special Drawing Right (SDR) assets, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the government. The current level of holdings is higher than the target of $500 billion set by the CBR several years ago.

Russia has been boosting the reserves for four years running. Last year, growth totaled nearly $86 billion, while 2018 and 2017 saw increases of around $33 billion and $55 billion respectively.

The country is also reshaping its international holdings, cutting the share of the US dollar in favor of other currencies and gold. Last year, the CBR reported that the greenback share fell from 43.7 percent to 23.6 percent in 12 months from March 2018.

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