Submitted by Smaulgld:
Russia now has 1,437 tonnes of gold in reserve; the sixth most of any nation.
Russian Gold Reserves
After adding 6,700,000 ounces (208 tonnes) of gold to her reserves in 2015, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation announced today that it had added another 700,000 ounces of gold (21.77 tonnes) to its reserves in January 2016. The report indicated that Russian gold reserves increased by 700,000 ounces from its December 2015 report to 46.2 million ounces (1,436.98 tonnes).
Since 2009 Russia has added more than 813 tons of gold to its reserves more than China who added (724 tons) during the same time period.
Gold vs. Roubles
Increasingly, Russia has been buying up more of their gold mining production, in effect converting roubles into gold.
Adding gold to reserves has helped offset the loss of value in the rouble vs gold.
From August to January 2016 China added 101 tonnes of gold to its reserves, while Russia added 149 tonnes, or 48% more.
Russian Monthly Gold Purchases June 2014 – January 2016
Russia added 11.5 million ounces of gold (35.77 tonnes) to its reserves from June 2015 to January 2016.
Russian Central Bank Gold Reserves
Russia’s massive additions to its gold reserves come at a time when they are seeing their biggest decline in wages and retail sales since 1999 and a massive drop in the value of the rouble.
Russia’s top central banker Elvira Nabiullina said recently “Regarding gold and foreign currency reserves, we have the desired benchmark of $500 bln, and not in the three-year term, it could be 5-7 years and more. We believe it is necessary in terms of creating additional financial cushion for the state in the face of such external uncertainties.”
Russia has been rebalancing its foreign reserves to favor gold vs. U.S. Treasury Bonds. Russia’s gold buying binge had coincided with a steady sell off of her U.S. Treasuries.
It might be expected that as Russia increases its foreign reserves it would do so at least in proportion with that of its current gold reserves.
In December 2015, Russia added 700,000 ounces of gold to its reserves while also adding $6 billion of U.S. Treasuries.
Russian U.S. Treasury Holdings
Russia’s U.S. Treasury Bond Holdings January 2014-December 2015As of December, 2015, Russia held $92.1 billion in U.S. Treasury Bonds down from $131.8 billion in January 2014 but up from $66.5 billion in April 2015.
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