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Russia key trade results $bn
Indicators
January - February 2020 (estimate)
January - February 2019
Current account
16
22.6
Trade balance
22.8
30.9
Private Sector Financial Balance
12.7
17.8
Change in reserve assets *
14.9
6.1
source: CBR
5.2.4 Gross international reserves
Russia’s reserves fell slightly from $586bn in February to $573bn in March, partly due to the revaluing of its gold reserves which dropped from $130bn to $125 over the same period as prices sank.
Russia has rebuilt and restructured its reserves. At the end of 2020, it had $183bn in its rainy-day National Welfare Fund (NWF), the most since 2009. Russia’s overall international reserves stood at $596bn, equivalent to nearly two years of imports. To hedge against sanctions, the central bank has also shifted its holdings away from American banks and out of American dollars: the share of its international reserves held on American territory fell from 30% in 2013 to just 7% now. It has more of its overall reserves in gold (24%) than in dollars (22%).
71 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com
