Statista Data journalist Katharina Buchholz has recently put together some data on where the Russian central bank's gold is being held. It seems to be a key issue at the moment as governments around the world impose sanctions on Russia. As of June 30, 2021, China was the single-biggest foreign holder of Russian central bank reserves, accounting for 13.8% of the total of Russia's reserves. It has been said to be a mix of gold and foreign currency and roughly the same share of assets held in the Chinese currency yuan.
The report said that Russia itself held the biggest share of reserves. The main component of its holdings is gold, making 21.7% of the total. With the sanctions against its central bank progressing, this means Russia would likely remain in charge of around one-third of its current strong reserves of $630 billion through domestic gold and the Chinese yuan.
According to Statista, about 25% of Russia's reserve assets were held in France, Germany, and Austria. The total reserves held in the eurozone totaled about 32%.
As for gold, the total of its holding is surprisingly high.
Around 21.7% of the Central Bank's total reserves are gold. As the Russian ruble is plummeting, it seems very reasonable that the Central Bank is holding this amount of the precious metal. Gold could become even more attractive in the long term as Russia recorded capital outflows. It was reported on Monday that Russia's central bank said it would resume buying gold on the domestic market starting this week. It is taking these measures to try to ensure financial stability during Western sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.