International reserves of the Russian Federation and their volume

The volume of international reserves plays an important role in the political and financial situation of the country on the world arena. Russia in this sense is stably kept in the top ten, even despite the direct dependence of the volume of reserves on oil prices.

Definition of RVR

Gold and foreign currency reserves, or as they are called, international reserves are state assets that have a high degree of liquidity and are managed by the country's main monetary and credit institution. As a rule, such a body is the Central Bank. Standard RVF is calculated in monetary gold and foreign currency, which is called reserve. For today, there are only two currencies: the US dollar and the euro. In addition, the ZVR includes special drawing rights, or SDR (Special Drawing Rights), issued by the International Monetary Fund, as well as reserve positions in the IMF.

The international reserves of the Russian Federation include all components.

Structuring of reserves

To date, financial institutions are much more diverse and broader than before. Therefore, the components of financial state reserves are more meaningful elements. Funds in foreign currency represent not only cash in the world reserve currency. They also include deposits, including gold, loans under reverse REPO issued by central banks, the Bank for International Settlements, as well as in commercial banks with high credit ratings under the standards of international rating agencies S & P, Moody's and Fitch Ratings.

This type of reserves also belongs to debt securities issued by foreign companies. The rating of issued securities should be high also according to the standards of international rating agencies S & P, Moody's and Fitch Ratings. The ZVR also includes securities transferred as loans.

International savings in foreign reserves are translated into US dollars at official exchange rates.

The International Monetary Fund

Artificial reserve and payment means include Special Drawing Rights, or Special Drawing Rights. This tool is issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), does not have a cash form, that is, it only records in bank accounts. It is addressed only within the Fund and is used to equalize the balance of payments, cover deficits and credit obligations. SDRs do not have the characteristics of either debt or currency.

This tool appeared in 1969 with the aim of eliminating the Triffin dilemma, reflecting the contradictions in the Bretton Woods system of organizing credit and money relations and settlements between countries. The contradiction arose in the collision of the national nature of the reserve currency and its international characteristics.

The reserve position in the IMF includes the reserve and loan shares. The excess of the amount of the monetary quota over the amount that the Fund holds in the accounts of the State party is called the reserve share. Accordingly, the loan share allows you to purchase IMF funds in excess of the reserve share.

Traditional gold

The structure of the international reserves of the Russian Federation, of course, also contains reserves of monetary gold, that is, physically existing. Initially, gold reserves were formed to ensure national currencies. Since 1937, the Russian ruble has been pegged to the dollar. However, after the war the gold mining industry began to rapidly grow in the USSR, gold reserves in the treasury increased by 100 tons every year. In 1950, Stalin decided to abolish the binding of the ruble to the dollar and establish the gold content of the national currency of the Soviet Union. Two years later, Stalin put forward the idea of creating an alternative to the dollar market. But the idea did not succeed. After Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev chose a pro-Western path of development. The Soviet leader considered the provision of the ruble in gold untimely and returned the peg of the Russian currency to the US dollar.

In the US, the dollar was secured by gold until 1971, when the country's president Richard Nixon officially announced the cancellation of the dollar's gold security. By that time, state reserves of gold in the country fell to a record 9.83 thousand tons from 21.8 thousand tons in 1949. It was then that the international currency market appeared with floating exchange rates. The market is characterized by a free conjuncture. And although officially the dollar and the pound sterling lost the status of reserve currencies, the American dollar has not only preserved, but also strengthens its positions in every way.

The last time the US gold reserves were subjected to a thorough audit in 1953. The stock is stored in four storages. In addition to the US stockpile, on the territory of the country reserves of precious metal are kept at least 60 states. The number of native and foreign stocks is kept secret, generating a lot of rumors on this score.

Red Gold of Russia

According to data from open sources, Russia's international reserves for today contain 1238 tons of gold. According to this indicator, the Russian Federation officially takes the sixth place in the world. The share of gold in the total volume of gold reserves is 12%. It is worth noting that before the First World War, the Russian Empire had one of the largest gold volumes in the world - 1.4 thousand tons. World and Civil War pretty devastated the treasury - by 1928 there were only 150 tons. In the Stalin period, the treasury again "swelled up" and contained 2,500 tons by 1953. However, later, gold reserves only declined, Nikita Khrushchev sold a rather large volume of it abroad. In 1991, representatives of the country's leadership claimed that only 290 tons of precious metal remained from the Soviet legacy.

Russian gold reserves are divided into two disproportionate parts. Most of which is managed by the Central Bank in consultation with the Russian government, is kept directly with the Bank of Russia. The second part is in the State Fund of precious metals and precious stones of the Russian Federation, decisions about spending and replenishment of this part of the reserve are taken directly by the president, as well as by the government.

Dynamics of gold reserves

The reserves of the yellow precious metal, which is part of the international reserves of the Russian Federation, experts estimated at $ 40 billion at the beginning of 2014. Although throughout the year 2013 the Central Bank actively purchased gold on the Russian market, nevertheless, according to analysts' estimates, the value of precious metals decreased by 11 billion dollars. This led to the fact that, by the end of 2013, the gold level fell to 7.8%, included in the total volume of international reserves of the Russian Federation. The share of the currency component in the basket at the beginning of last year was brought to 92.2%.

Analysts note that since the beginning of this year, the Central Bank continued to increase gold reserves in gold reserves, increasing their volume by three times. Since such behavior is unusual in the gold market, foreign experts suggest that it is the lack of confidence in the US currency that the central bank of the Russian Federation pushes for purchases.

Oil is the basis of Russia's gold reserves

The growth of the national "kubyshka" began in the zero years of the 21st century. The international reserves of the Russian Federation grew both by leaps and bounds due to high hydrocarbon prices until the crisis year of 2008. By that time, they amounted to 600 billion dollars. To maintain stability in the country since the beginning of the crisis year, the National Welfare Fund was established. International reserves of Russia have become a kind of financial donor for the new structure. This allowed to prevent serious crisis phenomena, but the volume of gold reserves decreased. Only by mid-2013 they managed to restore them - up to 533 billion rubles.

In the spring of last year, the situation began to change drastically. The boycott, declared by the countries of Western Europe and the USA due to the accession of the Crimea to Russia in the spring of last year, in addition, the sharp drop in oil prices, devaluation of the national currency, support for the ruble, sanctions and counter-forces - all this became serious tests for the Russian economy and could not Do not affect the state of the gold reserves. By the middle of the year, their volume fell by a third, to $ 382 billion, of which $ 12 billion fell on IMF payments. The fall continued throughout the year, and at the beginning of this year, the international reserves of the Russian Federation reached the 2007 low of $ 374.7 billion. At the beginning of May, their volume amounted to 358.5 billion,