The Central Bank explained why he kept half of the reserves in dollars and euros before they were frozen

The Central Bank (CB) deliberately divided its reserves into two parts, one of which was in dollars and euros, said the first deputy chairman of the board of the Central Bank, Dmitry Tulin, who oversees the supervision of the banking sector. According to him, it was impossible to avoid keeping funds in dollars and euros, because they were used in domestic money circulation.

As Mr. Tulin explained in an interview with RBC, one part of the international reserves was provided for peacetime, the other – for emergencies, which was the result of the systematic work of the Central Bank, which has been carried out since 2015. “There was no way not to keep part of the reserves in dollars and euros, because these currencies were most actively used in the international and domestic payment turnover of the country. They remained the main currencies for settlements in foreign trade,” said Dmitry Tulin.

He said that lending to Russian companies continued in dollars and euros, raising funds to accounts and deposits of corporate clients. “If there are constant turnovers, there must be reserves,” added the deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia.

Earlier in the Central Bank explainedthat since 2014, the regulator has taken into account the possibilities of the traditional financial crisis, as well as geopolitical crises. For this, reserves were developed that cannot be affected by the sanctions of foreign states. In March, Finance Minister Anatoly Siluanov said that about half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves ($300 billion out of $640 billion) were frozen due to sanctions.

Anastasia Larina