Comment

Comment by James Leonard on January 18, 2019 at 11:05pm

Russia, who is poised to overtake Germany in GDP(PPP) in 2019, has the 5th largest stockpile of gold, a tiny 12.5% dept to GDP, modest money supply growth, almost $1/2 trillion worth of international reserves in the bank. This  makes Russia the one major economy in the world likely to survive the coming debt crisis infecting the world today.  Still, western mass media paints Russia as a risky and doomed basketcase, the same trick they tried to fool the public with at the wildly successful 2018 Football World Cup and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.  Some day, the public in the west will understand Russia is NOT what western governments say it is.

Comment by Boris on January 18, 2019 at 3:41pm

With support from President Vladimir Putin, the central bank has been betting heavily on bullion, often seen as a safe haven or a natural hedge against the dollar, with active purchases in the last 10 years.In 2018, Russia’s buying jumped further as holdings of U.S. Treasury securities were reduced after Washington imposed sanctions on Russian entities in April, the toughest since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.The central bank bought 8.8 million troy ounces last year, it said on Friday, beating a record 7.2 million ounces set in 2017.As of Jan. 1 this year, the central bank held 67.9 million ounces of gold, up from 59.1 million ounces at the start of 2018, making it the world’s fifth largest holder behind the United States, Germany, France and Italy.China dropped to sixth place as it reported an increase in gold reserves just once in more than two years, with its holdings rising to 59.6 million ounces in December 2018 from 59.2 million ounces in October 2016. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-cenbank-gold-idUSKCN1PC11...