The governor of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said in an annual report submitted to parliament on April 11 that Russia already has enough yuan and gold to meet demand. Despite intense pressure from the United States and its allies through the imposition of sanctions on the Russian dollar and other currency reserves.
After years of efforts by Russia to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar, the central bank was able to reduce its dollar share of foreign reserves from 21.2% in 2021 to 10.9% as of Jan. 1 and increase its share of the euro from 33.9% previously. 29.2%
Yuan holdings increased from 12.8% to 17.1%, while gold holdings declined slightly to 21.5%.
The United States and its allies have imposed massive sanctions on Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. These include the imposition of restrictions on Russian foreign currency reserves. Russian authorities said the restrictions have resulted in the freezing of more than half of the country’s total reserves of $642 billion.
“This unusual and alarming situation will lead to a huge change. This difficult process of adapting to the new conditions will inevitably shrink gross domestic product (GDP). But in the end, the Russian economy will be able to recover,”
Nabi Ullina said.