MOSCOW, March 20. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves (or the national reserve assets) went down by $1.4 billion over a week from March 7 through March 14, 2014, to stand at $493.2 billion, the External and Public Relations Department of the Central Bank said on Thursday.
Over the preceding week (March 1 - March 7, 2014), the national reserves went up by $1.3 billion, and amounted to $494.6 billion.
Foreign exchange and gold reserves are highly liquid foreign assets at the disposal of the Bank of Russia and the Russian government on a certain date. They comprise monetary gold, Special Drawing Rights, reserves with the International Monetary Fund, and foreign currency. Foreign exchange and gold reserves are external assets controlled by the monetary authorities and may be used for financing balance-of-payments deficits, for interventions in currency markets affecting the national currency's rates or for similar purposes.
As of January 1, 2014, the Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $509.6 billion.