Will the (huge) Russian gold and currency reserves ease the sanctions?

The fact that the EU and the G7 blocked the transactions of the Russian Central Bank on their soil should prevent the Russian Federation from “dipping” into its reserves to finance the conflict in Ukraine… Except that a good part of those it is located in Moscow and China!

The “blow” inflicted on Moscow will therefore perhaps not be fatal, especially since the gold and currency reserves that Russia has been accumulating for years are colossal. From there to think that Vladimir Putin had anticipated the economic sanctions to which he would expose his country by invading Ukraine, there is only one step…

Growth of more than 40% over four years

In any case, data from the Central Bank of Russia shows that its reserves have grown from almost $448 billion at the start of 2018 to around $630 billion at the start of 2022, which corresponds to a growth of 41%. “Enough to pay for all the country’s imports for a year without Russia needing to export anything,” explains Jörg Krämer, chief economist at Commerzbank.

Check out recent developments in Russian reserves in the infographic below.