Russia adds $1.4 billion to its international reserves in one week

Russia’s international reserves, which include its gold and foreign currency holdings, have risen to $532.6 billion, representing growth of 0.3 percent in one week, recent data released by the country’s central bank shows.

Reserves grew by $1.4 billion from September 13 to September 20, according to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The regulator noted that the increase is due to the positive revaluation and purchases of foreign currency within the framework of the budget rules.

The state international reserves represent 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 and the government.

Since the beginning of the month reserves rose by around $3.6 billion. As of September 1, they amounted to $529.083 billion. Russia managed to increase its bullion and foreign currency stockpiles by more than $64 billion since January, with gold holdings alone surging from around $87 billion to nearly $109.5 billion.

Russia has been actively beefing up bullion reserves in line with its goal to cut its reliance on the US dollar and to diversify its foreign exchange reserves. In 2018, Moscow was recognized as the world’s most committed purchaser of gold and is currently the world’s fourth largest reserve holder.

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