Central Bank reserves keep decreasing

The gold and currency reserves of the Russian Central Bank amounted to $83.5bn on April 9, 2004. It means that they decreased by $100m in the period from April 2 to 9. The reserves have dropped for the third week in a row. They have lost $1.3bn since March 19. As a result their current volume is equal to the level of late January 2004.

Meanwhile, Russian Central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatyev told President Vladimir Putin at their meeting on April 9 that the gold and currency reserves were $83.8bn on April 5. Thus, the reserves lost $300m in three days. This seems to the result of considerable payments on foreign debts.