Russia continues to add gold to the country’s huge forex reserves

The holdings of monetary gold in Russia’s foreign exchange reserves increased by 0.14% last month, amounting to 73.9 million ounces (2,298.547 tons) as of October 1, the Central Bank of Russia reports.

Statistics show that the Russian central bank added 3.1 tons of gold in September. This comes as the bank replenished its reserves by 100,000 ounces (or 3.1 tons) in July for the first time since April 2020. The share of monetary gold in Russia’s foreign exchange reserves accounted for 20.95% as of last month.

Russia’s international reserves include highly liquid foreign assets like stocks of monetary gold, foreign currencies, and Special Drawing Rights assets, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia and the government.

The holdings exceeded the target level of $500 billion set by the regulator in June 2019 and have remained above that threshold ever since.

In 2020, Russia’s reserves surged by over $40 billion despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, which forced the government to increase spending to support businesses and households.

Russia holds the world’s fifth largest foreign currency reserves, worth over $618 billion as of September 1.

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