Russian reserves lost $10.2 billion in a week due to revaluations and interventions

MOSCOW, May 25 (Reuters) – As of May 19, 2023, Russian foreign exchange reserves and gold stood at $589.3 billion, down $10.2 billion or 1.7% over the week.

The Central Bank explained this with a negative revaluation and the impact of operations carried out under the budgetary rule on the foreign exchange market.

According to the latest CBR data, on May 1, 2023, the share of foreign currencies in gold reserves was 70.2%, gold – almost 25% (74.8 million troy ounces).

From January 13, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation resumed its activities under the budget rule through the Central Bank, which now sells the Chinese yuan from reserves daily with settlements “tomorrow” for 2 billion rubles.

According to Reuters calculations, the amount of such sales of foreign currency for rubles for delivery in the reporting week could amount to the equivalent of approximately USD 140 million.

At the beginning of 2023, the volume of gold reserves, according to the Central Bank, amounted to USD 577.5 billion, and the absolute maximum was reached in February last year, USD 643.2 billion. (Moscow office)