Page 64 - RusRPTFeb21

5.2.4​ Gross international reserves
Russia's foreign exchange reserves are the world's fourth largest, ​nearly $600bn at the end of 2020, Russia's total foreign exchange reserves (including gold reserves) were $596bn, an increase of just over 7% over the past year.
The increase in reserves, measured in dollars, is mainly due to the rise in the price of gold and the strengthening of the euro against the dollar. The central bank has operated quite sparingly in the foreign exchange market, and the external value of the ruble is very much determined by the market.
Russia's foreign exchange reserves are the fourth largest in the world after China ($3,360bn), Japan (1,400bn) and Switzerland (1,080bn). In the case of China, and especially Switzerland, exchange rate management is an important reason for the size of foreign exchange reserves. However, the Japanese yen is floating freely. In the case of Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong, the large size of the foreign exchange reserves is explained by the fixed exchange rate policy.
The volume of the Russian National Wealth Fund in December 2020 increased by RUB89bn ($1.21bn) to reach RUB13.546 trillion ($183.93bn) as of January 1​, the Ministry of Finance said on January 13.
As of January 1, 2021, the volume of the National Wealth Fund liquid part amounted to 7.5% of GDP, or RUB8.659 trillion ($117.195bn). As of December 1, the volume of the National Wealth Fund amounted to RUB13.457 trillion ($182.72bn).
At the same time, $51.244bn, 44.166bn euro, 8.551bn pounds sterling, and RUB11.628bn were deposited on separate accounts with the Bank of Russia, RUB579.698bn were placed on deposits with VEB.RF.
As much as $3bn were invested in debt obligations of foreign states, RUB254.846bn and $4.113bn were invested in securities of Russian issuers related to implementation of self-liquidating infrastructure projects, and RUB278.992bn were invested in preferred shares of credit institutions, RUB138.434bn were deposited with VTB and Gazprombank for funding of self-sustained infrastructure projects, and RUB3.072 trillion were invested in ordinary shares of Sberbank, RUB59.517bn - in ordinary shares of Aeroflot.
Russians have $180bn of assets stashed abroad, the country’s tax service ​said January 15.
The assets — worth RUB13 trillion— are held in some 700,000 financial accounts based outside Russia, which are controlled by both organizations and individuals, Dmitry Volvach, Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) ​said​ at the Gaider Forum in Moscow.
The data comes from tax declarations submitted by Russian citizens and through agreements with other national tax authorities to automatically share data on bank accounts held by foreign citizens.
64 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ February 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com