- (Pravda) -- The US dollar is not Russia's basic reserve
currency anymore. The euro-based share of reserve assets of Russia's Central
Bank increased to the level of 47.5 percent as of January 1, 2009 and exceeded
the investments in dollar assets, which made up 41.5 percent, The Vedomosti
newspaper wrote.
-
- The dollar has thus lost the status of the basic reserve
currency for the Russian Central Bank, the annual report, which the bank
provided to the State Duma, said.
-
- In accordance with the report, about 47.5 percent of
the currency assets of the Russian Central Bank were based on the euro,
whereas the dollar-based assets made up 41.5 percent as of the beginning
of the current year. The situation was totally different at the beginning
of the previous year: 47 percent of investments were made in US dollars,
while the euro investments were evaluated at 42 percent.
-
- The dollar share had increased to 49 percent and remained
so as of October 1. The euro share made up 40 percent. The rest of investments
were based on the British pound, the Japanese yen and the Swiss frank.
-
- The report also said that the reserve currency assets
of the Russian Central Bank were cut by $56.6 billion. The losses mostly
occurred at the end of the year, when the Central Bank was forced to conduct
massive interventions to curb the run of traders who rushed to buy up foreign
currencies. The currency assets of the Central Bank had grown to $537.6
billion by October 2008. Therefore, the index dropped by almost $133 billion
within the recent three months.
-
- The majority of Russian companies, banks and most of
the Russian population started to purchase enormous amounts of foreign
currencies at the end of 2008. The dollar gained 16 percent and the euro
13.5 percent over the fourth quarter. The demand on the US dollar was extremely
high, and the Central Bank was forced to spend a big part of its dollar
assets, experts say.
-
- The change of the structure of the currency portfolio
of the Bank of Russia has not affected the official peg of the dual currency
basket, which includes $0.55 and 0.45 EUR.
-
- The investments of the Bank of Russia in state securities
of foreign issuers have been considerably increased, the report said. About
a third of Russia's international reserves are based on US Treasury bonds.
-
- Russia became one of the largest creditors of the US
administration last year, the US Department of the Treasury said. Russia
increased its investments in the debt securities of the US Treasury from
$32.7 billion as of December 2007 to $116.4 billion as of December 2008.
|