MOSCOW
Russia’s central bank has said it will resume buying gold from the domestic market, as it takes measures to help ensure financial stability amid western sanctions against the country over the war in Ukraine.
Russia held a little under 2,300 tonnes of gold, or 21 percent of total reserves, at the end of January, according to the World Gold Council. “There has been no indication given around the scale of future purchases, but we will continue to monitor developments,” Krishan Gopaul, market intelligence manager at the council, said in a blog post.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation suspended its gold purchases in 2020, since when the overall level of gold reserves has remained largely unchanged. Russia’s banking regulator announced on February 28 that it planned to resume purchases from domestic producers.
The World Gold Council, which released the first set of central bank gold reserve data for 2022, said that global gold reserves fell by 12 tonnes in January, when central banks’ selling outweighed purchases of the precious metal.
On the face of it, this is a continuation of the switching between net purchases and sales we have seen in recent months, Gopaul said. “We believe it is likely that central bank demand for gold will continue its positive 12-year trend in 2022, but may not match the strong performance of 2021,” he said.
