Russia boosts foreign exchange reserves

Russia’s gold and foreign currency holdings grew by $3 billion in the week through December 3, with total reserves reaching $622.8 billion, the latest data published by the country’s central bank shows.

The regulator attributes growth to the planned purchases of foreign currencies and a positive market re-assessment.
Russia’s international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets consisting of monetary gold, foreign currencies, and Special Drawing Rights, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia and the government.

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Last year, Russia’s forex reserves surged 7.5%, and amounted to $595.8 billion. In November, the holdings hit an all-time high of $626.3 billion, marking weekly growth of as much as $4.1 billion.

In 2015, the reserves dropped to a post-2008 low of $356 billion after the government spent around $250 billion to bail out the economy during the 2014 oil price crisis. Since then, Russia’s gold and foreign currency holdings have nearly doubled.

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