Despite COVID, Russia’s Gold and Foreign Currency Reserves Surge to $587 Billion

As the COVID lockdown-induced global economic recession continues ravaging economies and adding mountains of new public debt to governments’ balance sheets, some countries are still managing to plough through the fiscal minefield thanks to prudent fiscal policies undertaken years ago.

One of those countries is Russia, who spent the last 7 years building-up both its capital and precious metal reserves – a move which has left Moscow’s financial health report card in good shape as the world heads into what looks to be a dark winter.

RT International reports….

Russia’s foreign exchange holdings have risen for the second consecutive week to reach $587.6 billion, according to the latest data released by the country’s central bank.

The holdings rose by $3.6 billion, or 0.62 percent, from October 30 to November 6. The growth was supported by “positive exchange rate revaluation and higher gold prices,” according to the regulator.

The country’s international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets comprising stocks of monetary gold, foreign currencies, and Special Drawing Right (SDR) assets, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia and the government. The holdings have surpassed the target level of $500 billion set by the regulator in June 2019 and remained above the threshold ever since.

Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economy, forcing the government to increase spending to support businesses and households, Russia has continued to boost its gold and foreign currency reserves this year.

The assets have increased by $31.6 billion over the past ten months, though the pace of growth has slowed since 2019. According to the bank’s statistics, Russia added over $65 billion to its forex reserves in January-November last year.

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