The Russian Central Bank has taken a temporary break in its shift away from the dollar in 1H2019, after halving in USD holdings over the previous 12 months and investing heavily into gold, EUR and CHY.
Share of the dollar in the 0.5-trillion dollar kitty edged up as of June 2019 to 24.2%, from 23.6% in 1Q2019 and from 21.8% year-on-year. The bank also cut back slightly on its yuan holdings, which stood at 14.7% in June 2018, to 13.2%. The share of euros in the reserves rose to 30.6% from 30.3%.
The figures for 1H2019 became public only in the new year because Russia discloses the structure of its foreign currency reserves with a six-month lag. As of December 2019, the total volume of Russia’s international reserves stood at USD542bn.
