Russia Added U.S. Dollars, Cut Yuans in Foreign Currency Reserves in 2Q19

Russia slightly increased the share of U.S. dollars and cut the share of Chinese yuans in its international reserves in the second quarter of 2019, the Bank of Russia said on Thursday, according to Reuters.

The country had 24.2% of its foreign currency assets in dollars as of June 30, 2019, up from 23.6% as of late March 2019.

The share of yuans slipped to 13.2% as of late June from 14.2% in late March, the central bank’s data showed. The share of euros in the reserves rose to 30.6% from 30.3%.

Russia discloses the structure of its foreign currency reserves with a six-month lag.

In November, a source in the Finance Ministry said it is planning to diversify the foreign currencies it holds in the National Wealth Fund, a part of Russia’s sovereign reserves, in 2020.

According to the source, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, it plans to lower the share of the U.S. dollar in the fund.

The ministry also plans to add more foreign currencies to the fund, which stood at $124.5 billion as of Nov. 1, the source said.

At the end of September, the fund had $45.5 billion U.S. dollars, 39.17 billion euros and 7.67 billion British pounds, according to official data.