Russian Central Bank Gold Reserves Rise to 2111.93 Tons in 2018.
Russia added 300,000 ounces of gold (9.33 tons) to reserves in December.
Russian gold reserves are the fifth largest central bank holdings in the world.
Russia added a record 224 tons of gold to reserves in 2017.
Russia added over 270 tons of gold in 2018, a new record.
Since June 2015, the Central Bank of Russia has added over 830 tons of gold to reserves.
Overall Russian reserves rose from $462.104 billion in November to $468.495 billion.
Russian holdings of U.S. Treasuries were at $14.06 billion in August 2018 down from $48.1 billion in April 2018.
Gold reserves worth $86.902 billion constitute 18.5% of overall Russian reserves.
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Russia Continues to add Gold to Reserves at a Record Pace
After adding 6,700,000 ounces (208 tonnes) of gold to her reserves in 2015, the Russian Central Bank added 6,400,000 ounces (199 tonnes) in 2016 and another 224 tons (7,202,000 ounces) in 2017.
The Central Bank of Russia ended 2017 with 1838.21 tonnes of gold on their balance sheet.
Central Bank of Russia added 7.2 Million ounces (approximately 223.945 tonnes) in 2017.
In 2018, the Central Bank of Russia has added 8.7 million ounces or 270.6 tons of gold.
The chart below shows the Central Bank of Russia’s Gold Reserves by month with tonnage rounded to the nearest metric ton.
The Central bank of Russia has added about 831 tons of gold to her reserves from June 2015 – to October 2018.
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Since 2009, Russia has added over 1,110 tons of gold to its reserves more than China who added about 775 tons during the same time period.
Russian Monthly Gold Purchases June 2014 – December 2018
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Russia has the fifth largest gold reserves of any nation.
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Russia Adding Gold To Reserves At A Faster Pace Than China
From March 2016 to May 2017 China added 45 tonnes of gold to its reserves, while Russia added 246 tonnes, or 447% more.
The People’s Bank of China’s gold reserves as of September 2017 were at the same level as of October 2016. The Central Bank of Russia added 7.6 million ounces (236.39 tons) of gold from October 2016 to September 2017.
Russia has added about 122 more tonnes of gold to its reserves than China from November 2015 – November 2016.
The Russian Central Bank announced that it would begin buying gold on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
Russia is retaining an increasing percentage of its gold mining output.
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Roubles For Gold
Increasingly, Russia has been buying up more of their gold mining production, in effect converting roubles into gold.
The gap between the Central Bank of Russia’s gold reserves and their U.S. Treasury holdings widened in earlier this year.. Russia’s gold reserves exceeded the value of their U.S. Treasury holdings for the first time in April. The U.S. Treasury department revealed that Russia’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell from $96.1 billion in March 2018 to $48.7 billion in April 2018. Russia’s U.S. Treasury holdings fell further to $14.9 billion in May and have remained around that level through August.
Today, the Central Bank of Russia revealed that their gold reserves increased by another 300,000 ounces or 9.33 tons in December bringing their gold reserves to 2112 tons worth $86.902 billion as of the end of December 2018.
Russia does little trade with the United States and has been subject to a series of U.S. inspired sanctions for the past few years. As a result, while Russia had been working on increasing its overall foreign reserves in recent years, it focused more on adding gold than U.S. Treasuries.
The drop in May 2018 of $33.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries from April followed another large shedding of U.S. Treasuries by the Central Bank of Russia (Russia sold $47.4 billion in US Treasuries in April) Russia began rebuilding its U.S. Treasury holdings in mid 2015 when they reached a low of $66.5 billion. Russia’s U.S. Treasury holdings reached a recent peak of $108.7 billion in May 2017.
Russian Gold Reserves vs. U.S. Treasury Holdings
Russian U.S. Treasury and gold reserves source: U.S. Treasury TIC report and Russian Central Bank, respectively.
Overall Russian Reserves
The reserves of the Central Bank of Russian have grown over $88 billion or about 24% since January 2016.
Gold represented about $86.9 billion of Russia’s overall reserves at the end of December 2018, or about 18.5%.
Russian U.S. Treasury Holdings
Russia’s U.S. Treasury Bond Holdings 2014 – 2018
As of August 2018, Russia held $14.9 billion in U.S. Treasury Bonds down from $131.8 billion in January 2014.
Further reading on Russia’s gold production:
Russia’s VTB bank to supply 15-20 T of gold to China in next 12 months
Russia to increase gold production
Russian gold and reserve data from the Central Bank of the Federation of Russia
Further Reading:
Russian Gold Reserves (monthly archive)
Russia’s U.S. Treasury Holdings vs. Gold Reserves
Top Foreign Holders of U.S. Treasuries
Gold Repatriation Requests (updated regularly)
The Smaulgld Gold Buying Guide
Gold Reserves By Country – Top 20
Russia, Ukraine and the Dollar
Are Russia and China Moving Against the Dollar
Gold and Silver Price Manipulation – Suspected
Gold and Silver Price Manipulation – Actual
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