Russia’s holdings of international reserves, consisting of gold and foreign exchange assets, grew by 5.2 billion dollars, or 0.9 percent, between December 9 and December 16. Official statements released on Thursday confirmed that the total reached 581.7 billion dollars as of December 16. The central bank described this development as a positive revaluation outcome.
During the prior months, Russia had risen to fourth place among the world’s top holders of gold and foreign exchange reserves based on the nine-month snapshot for 2022. At that time, the country reported 540 billion dollars in reserves, with certain assets increasingly constrained by sanctions. In comparison, India’s reserve position stood around 532 billion dollars in the same period. China remained at the top of the ranking with about 3.193 trillion dollars in reserves at the end of September, followed by Japan with roughly 1.238 trillion dollars. Switzerland held about 892 billion dollars, ranking third in the global ledger.
In a separate release, Belarus’s press service noted that the republic’s gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by 1.1 percent in October, reaching 7.589 billion dollars in total for the first half of November.