Russia’s forex reserves surge by $5 BILLION in one week

Russia’s gold and foreign exchange holdings neared $606 billion as of May 21, marking a week-on-week growth of 0.8%, according to the latest data released by the country’s central bank.

In monetary terms, the surge amounted to $5 billion, the regulator reported, saying that it had come as a result of positive revaluation and returns from the floatation of obligations.

The country’s international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets comprising stocks of monetary gold, foreign currencies and Special Drawing Right assets, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia and the government.

Russia has nearly doubled its forex holdings over the past five years. In 2015, the reserves dropped to a post-2008 low of $356 billion after the country’s authorities had to spend around $250 billion to bail out the economy during the 2014 oil price crisis.

Since then, the regulator has been focused on rebuilding reserves back to the comfort level of $500 billion. The target level was surpassed in June 2019.

Last year, Russia’s foreign reserves grew by a total of 7.5%, or $40 billion, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economy, which forced the government to increase spending to support businesses and households.

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