The country’s gold and foreign exchange holdings continue to grow
Russia’s international holdings reached $580.6 billion as of August 12, according to data released by the country’s central bank on Thursday. Moscow has been building up its reserves as a shield against sanctions.
The central bank regularly releases updates on its reserves with a one-week delay. International reserves consist of foreign currency funds, special drawing rights with the IMF, and monetary gold. Total bookings rose $5.8 billion from a week earlier, the regulator said, noting that the 1% rise was due to a positive market revaluation.
The all-time high of $643.2 billion was recorded in February 2022. Russia lost access to about half of its foreign exchange reserves in early March after Western central banks froze them as part of sanctions introduced by the United States and its allies in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
Despite this, the Russian Finance Ministry said the country could cope with the sanctions thanks to its abundant reserves.