MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Central Bank has raised its reserve holdings of Canadian dollars to 3.5 percent and launched operations with the Australian dollar to further diversify its holdings amid the ongoing global market volatility, Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said on Thursday.
“The share of the Canadian dollar is 3.5 percent and that of the Australian currency 1.5 percent. Operations [with the Australian dollar] started from the second quarter [of this year],” Ulyukayev said.
Ulyukayev last disclosed the structure of the Central Bank’s holdings in February 2012, when the US dollar accounted for 46.5 percent of Russia’s international reserves, the euro made up 40.5 percent, the pound sterling 9 percent, the Canadian dollar 2 percent and the Japanese yen 2 percent.
Russia’s international reserves stood at $528.2 billion as of December 1, 2012. They rose four percent in 2011 to $498.649 billion.