Central bank reserves in Russia

The Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) international reserves are the pool of liquid external assets (foreign currency, monetary gold, SDRs, the IMF reserve position and others) held by the central bank. The CBR publishes the total level in billions of US dollars on a weekly basis.

Each Thursday the Central Bank of Russia publishes the reserve level as of the last working day of the previous week (Friday), in its weekly-values table, expressed in billions of US dollars.

A high level of reserves strengthens the central bank's capacity to intervene in the currency market and defend the rouble. Sharp swings may reflect intervention, revaluation of gold or other currencies against the dollar, or shifts in balance of payments flows, in a context shaped by sanctions.

The weekly figure is an aggregate total and does not break down by asset type (the detailed composition is published less often). Part of the weekly change reflects valuation effects (exchange rates and the gold price) rather than genuine flows.