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CBR Foreign Reserves Go Up in Dollar, Stable in Euro
Foreign Reserves of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) grew by $7.6 billion (1.5 percent) to the record $502.1 billion from March 8 through March 14. The amount was $476.4 billion as of January 1, 2008, so the reserves gained 5.4 percent from the start of the year.
The amount of reserves reported by the CBR yesterday is another absolute record. Russia yields only to China and Japan in this indicator for the third year running.
But quite a lot depends on the calculation method. The reserves manifest continuous growth if calculated in the U.S. dollars. In euro, however, their amount has been fluctuating around €300 billion since past May, declining a bit from December.
The dollar depreciation enables the CBR to report continuous growth in the dollar-denominated reserves. At the same, the reserves are narrowing if calculated in the euro equivalent – the oil price of $100 per bbl to $105 per bbl hasn’t notably affected the amount. What’s more, another portion of the reserves, the one that is ensured by nominal euro-denominated amount of the National Welfare Fund and Reserve Fund, is narrowing as well.
According to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the National Welfare Fund and Reserve Fund have $160 billion in stockpile today. But the game of the CBR and Finance Ministry is worth the candle. Should the dollar adjusts to $1.2/€-1.4/€, the authorities will surely have the surge in the traditional dollar evaluation of foreign reserves, even if Russia goes through the large-scale capital outflow.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 21, 2008
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