Russia : US sanctions have forced Russia to look at ways of securing its foreign reserves. In recent years, Moscow has increased purchases of physical gold and dramatically reduced its share of US debt bonds.
The political standoff started in 2014, shortly after the conflict in Ukraine and the referendum in Crimea in favor of joining Russia. Several rounds of US sanctions followed, with the latest affecting major Russian companies and individuals who run them.
In April, Russia sold half of its US sovereign debt bonds, getting rid of nearly $47 billion worth of securities, according to US Treasury data released last week. The sell-off is a signal that Russia’s financial regulators are diversifying the country’s foreign exchange reserves, say analysts at the Copenhagen-based Danske Bank.
“Some people ask whether the Russian Central Bank sold them to support the ruble in April, but it’s about changing allocation as reserves continue to grow,” Vladimir Miklashevsky, a senior economist at Danske Bank in Helsinki, told Bloomberg. “Rising US yields have fueled the sell-off.”
Russia sold more than any other major foreign holder of US debt – even as its reserves grew on the back of rising oil prices. The country’s current stake shrank by nearly four times against the hefty holding of more than $176 billion eight years ago.
