Russia continues stockpiling gold, raising forex reserves to near all-time high

Russian gold and foreign currency holdings increased to a total of $591.8 billion, according to the latest data released by the country’s central bank.

The international funds grew about 0.02 percent in a week from September 4 -11, the regulator said. Statistics showed that since January 1, Russia boosted forex reserves by $37.4 billion. They were up by 18.3 percent last year.

The state's international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets comprising stocks of monetary gold, foreign currencies and Special Drawing Rights (SDR) assets, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the government. The current level of holdings is much 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 has also been reshaping its international holdings, cutting the share of the US dollar in favor of other currencies and gold. The recent record rally in gold prices drove Russia’s international holdings to all-time highs in August, when they surpassed the $600-billion level.

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