BS: Russian Reserves Fell to $495.7 Billion as Dollar Climbed
By Emma O’Brien
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s international reserves, the world’s third largest, declined last week as the dollar’s advance eroded the value of the portion denominated in other currencies.
The stockpile fell $3.5 billion to $495.7 billion in the week to Nov. 12, the central bank said in an e-mailed statement today, the lowest level since the week ended Oct. 29.
Russia’s reserves are made up of about 47 percent dollars, 41 percent euros, 10 percent British pounds, 2 percent Japanese yen and the rest Swiss francs, according to Bank Rossii. The euro slid 2.4 percent against the dollar last week, its biggest weekly decline since August, as concern about Ireland’s debt- laden banks spurred investors to seek the safety of the greenback. The pound dropped 0.4 percent against the dollar last week and the yen lost 1.5 percent.
“Most of the decline was because of the dollar’s strength,” Aleksandra Evtifyeva, an economist at VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of Russia’s second-largest bank, said by phone in Moscow today.
Russia’s stockpile is third only to those of China and Japan, which stand at $2.6 trillion and $1.1 trillion respectively, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Reserves have risen by $58 billion so far this year, Bank Rossii data shows.
--Editors: Linda Shen, Ana Monteiro.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma O’Brien at eobrien6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net
