Central Bank Announces Record Gold Reserves

The Central Bank of Russia announced that gold or hard currency reserves soared 7.7 per cent to a record $134.15 billion in January-February 2005.

Reserves at the end of 2004 stood at $124.5 billion, up $47.4 billion since the end of 2003.

Reserves rose sharply in the final months of 2004 in response to higher revenues from oil exports, efforts by the bank to contain the appreciation of the ruble and a pick-up in incoming capital flows.