The Central Bank explained the record growth of Russia's reserves in gold

The dynamics of Russia's international reserves in recent years is mainly due to market and currency revaluation, as well as the Bank of Russia's operations with the National Welfare Fund (NWF), the Central Bank's press service told Izvestia. This is how they explained the record growth of the country's reserves in gold - since the beginning of the year they have grown by a record 33% and by November exceeded $200 billion, according to the regulator's data.

The authorities conduct large currency transactions on a daily basis, which affects its value. According to the budget rule, the Finance Ministry has been buying foreign currency and gold from the market for 3.1 billion rubles a day since October. To keep the exchange rate from falling further, the Central Bank reflected these transactions and additionally sold yuan in the amount of Br8.4 billion, thanks to which 5.3 billion rubles worth of foreign currency comes to the market daily.

In general, the cost of gold has increased by 29% since the beginning of the year, follows from TradingView data. For a conservative asset, which is usually not characterized by volatility, this is a colossal increase, said Dmitry Skryabin, analyst at Alfa Capital Management Company.

The Bank of Russia's data reflects the rise in the value of monetary gold, said Nikolay Dudchenko, analyst at Finam FG. According to him, for a month to early November it rose in price by 4% to $ 2744 per troy ounce - Russian reserves in monetary gold for the same period increased by a comparable amount.

Gold prices have been rising lately against the background of general geopolitical tensions, said Ilya Fedorov, chief economist at BKS Investment World. In particular, it is actively purchased by the central banks of China, India and Turkey, said Dmitry Skryabin. The situation is fueled by tension in the Middle East.

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Additional ounces: the Russian Federation's reserves in gold exceeded a record $200 billion