Russia's gold reserves reached a new record high of $155.9 billion by the end of 2023, according to the Central Bank.
At the same time, in physical terms, stocks increased by 35 tons for the first time since September, and amounted to 2,350 tons. Earlier, the Central Bank reported that Russia's international reserves rose to $598.6 billion on January 1 from $592.4 billion on December 1. This is the highest figure since March 2022.
The share of gold in reserves increased to 26%, which was the highest since March 2000.
The largest reserves of gold in the Russian Federation were recorded in 1993 at 56.9%. Russia invested the least in the precious metal in 2007, when the share of gold in its reserves dropped to 2.1%.
According to experts, Russia is a large gold mining country, so the share of gold in its reserves has always been high. After the introduction of Western sanctions and the freezing of assets in euros and dollars, reserves mainly accumulate in gold and yuan.
At the end of 2022, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation approved a new structure of the National Welfare Fund, increasing the maximum share of reserves in gold to 40%.
Global central banks have also been actively buying up precious metals amid geopolitical tensions. According to the World Gold Council, in the first three quarters of 2023, the accumulated amount of gold (800 tons) turned out to be a record for January - September of any year in the history of statistics (since 2000).
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
