Russia for the first time in many years began to sell gold

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation for the first time in many years (in 13 years) began to sell gold from its reserves. At the end of the third quarter of 2020, he sold 1,2 tons of precious metal. This is evidenced by the data of the World Gold Council (World Gold Council).

This information coincides with the statistics of the IMF, according to which at the beginning of July this year, the gold reserves of Russia were 73,94 million ounces of gold, and by the beginning of October - 73,90 million ounces. The Central Bank of Russia sold about 10 thousand ounces in July, and in September - about 30 thousand ounces. Thus, 40 thousand ounces of gold were sold, which coincides with the above 1,2 tons. One ounce is 31,1 grams.



The WGC noted that the net sales of the central banks of the countries of the world in the third quarter of 2020 amounted to 12,1 tons of gold, although in 2019 they made a net purchase of 141,9 tons. Moreover, for the first time in a decade, they sold more precious metal than they bought. The main sellers were the central banks of Uzbekistan (34,9 tons), Turkey (22,3 tons), Tajikistan (9,2 tons), the Philippines (7,8 tons) and Mongolia (2,4 tons).

Producing Countries Seized Record Gold Prices To Cushion The Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic On economics their states. At the same time, global demand for gold in the third quarter of 2020 fell to 892,3 tons, which was the lowest level since the third quarter of 2009.

We remind you that from April 1, 2020, the Central Bank of Russia stopped buying gold in reserves, and the Russian government began to issue licenses to gold mining companies to export precious metals. According to experts, this was due to a shortage of currency due to the reduction in oil and gas sales caused by the coronavirus.

In the third quarter of 2020, the inflow of foreign currency to Russia from the sale of oil decreased by 51%, to $ 15,3 billion, from the sale of petroleum products by 45%, to $ 8,7 billion, and from the sale of gas by 43%, to $ 4,6 billion. At the same time, according to Raiffeisenbank's estimates, the export of gold partially compensates for Russia's lack of foreign exchange and brings in up to $ 1,5 billion monthly.

In the second quarter of 2020, about 90 tons of gold were exported from Russia. In total, in the first half of 2020, 121,2 tons of gold worth $ 6.4 billion were exported from Russia, which is 7 times more in physical terms than in the same period of 2019. Moreover, in June 2020, 1,4 tons of gold was exported to Belarus, and 22,5 tons went to London.