Since September 2012 Russia has been quietly building up its gold reserves, hitting 1,149.8 tonnes last month — it’s highest level since 1993. In the process the country has overtaken both Switzerland and China on its way to amassing the sixth largest gold reserve pile in the world. This was part of a sensible strategy to diversify its foreign exchange reserves (currently $439 billion in size), which were overwhelmingly held in dollars and euros. Despite the huge increase, gold still accounted for only 9.7% of the country’s total reserves as at the end of August — though recent spending by …read more
Source: Business Insider