Russian foreign currency reserves break historic record

The amount of gold and foreign currency reserves of the Central Bank of Russia has reached the highest level in the history of Russia and the USSR, Russian Central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatyev said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Ignatyev pointed out that the gold and foreign currency reserves had amounted to $84bn on February 1, 2004.

According to the Central Bank head, the amount of gold and foreign currency reserves had increased by $7bn in January of this year. Ignatyev added that the gold and foreign currency reserves had risen by $29bn over the past year, the Rossiya (Russia) television channel reported.