Page 53 - RusRPTOct21

5.2.4 Gross international reserves
Russia’s allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lifting its international reservesy $20bn to a new all time high of $615.6bn as of August 27, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported on September 2.
The IMF handed out a total of $650bn in SDR equivalent to all the countries in the world on August 23 as part of a programme to post the recovery of the global economy following the shock of last year’s coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Russia has received $18bn worth of SDRs (456bn SDRs), which are like a special currency used by the IMF and its 190 members. The SDRs can be exchanged between countries for real money, usually dollars, euro or yuan.
Russia’s reserves had already risen to an all time high of just over $600bn earlier this year as the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), despite all the economic problems since the 2014 oil shock and ruble devaluation, was focused on getting reserves above CBR governor Elvira Nabiullina’s $500bn “comfort level,” with great success, asne IntelliNews reported in DATACRUNCH piece comparing Russia’s economy to Ukraine’s.
The previous record was set at the end of July 2008 justefore the start of the global financial crisis of that year started in September of $596.6bn. Reserves fell to a low of $356bn in April 2015 as the Kremlin tapped its cash pile to keep the economy functioning and cushion the blow of a second crisis in 2014 that followed its annexation of Crimea, brought down international sanctions on Russia and then was hit again when oil prices collapsed in 2014 causing yet another devaluation.
Russia’s economy made a very slow recovering after 2014,ut strong growth returned in about 2018 allowing the CBR started to actively accumulate reserves again. Now the cash pile is enough to pay off Russia’s entire public and external debt and still have $100bn left over – more than enough to ensure the stability of the ruble and almost two year’s worth of import cover.
Russian President Vladimir Putin haseen following a policy of keeping reserves massive as he sees them as insurance against international sanctions and a strategic weapon in addition to any economic role they play.
In July 2021, Russia held $4.006bn in Treasury Bonds of the US Treasury, including long-term government securities – $305mn, and short-term – $3.701bn, according to the US Treasury.
Russian investments in UST fell in April 2018 from $96.1bn to $48.7bn amid tough anti-Russian sanctions. In May of the same year, the indicator decreased to $14.9bn. At the same time, in 2013, Russia held more than $150bn in US government bonds.
53 RUSSIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com