Russia now holds more gold than dollars in national reserves

Bloomberg/Natasha Doff and Anna Adrianova/1-12-2021

“Gold made up 23% of the central bank’s stockpile as of the end of June 2020, the latest date for which data on the breakdown is available, according to a report published late Monday. The share of dollar assets dropped to 22%, down from more than 40% in 2018.”

USAGOLD note:  Though Russia’s de-dollarization is one of Putin’s stated objectives, part of the turnover probably has to do with reduced oil and natural gas exports. As this article points out, the increase in the price of gold was another contributing factor to the bigger number. At the same time, Russia is now the third-largest gold producer after China and Australia – producing roughly 10% of the world’s mined gold annually. Its de-dollarization policy translates to a major positive in the global supply-demand equation. China has a similar policy though many believe it has yet to disclose its true gold reserves.