Possible Side-Effects of Plunging Commodity Prices – A Look at Russia
One of our readers wrote to us with a question on a topic that will surely be of interest to a wider audience. Here is what he asked:
“As FX reserves dwindle, surely there is some potential that Russia may be forced seller of Gold? I understand your views re gold market, but would be most interested to hear your thoughts on the possible impact? Are there other options? Talk of gold backed RUB, default on USD debts, etc.
It is clear that a number of major oil producers are in severe trouble. However, Russia's central bank has actually increased its gold reserves in recent months. It is now the world's 5th largest official holder of gold, after increasing its stock pile to 1,150 tons in September (the most recent data available).
To this it must be kept in mind that Russia itself is a major producer of gold, the third largest in the world in fact, mining about 250 tons per year. The central bank is involved in the marketing of this gold, acting as an intermediary for producers. Still, in spite of increasing its gold reserves quite a bit, they still only represent about 10% of Russia's total reserves. Here is by the way a chart of gold in ruble terms:
In ruble terms, gold is at a new all time high – click to enlarge.
So why has Russia's central bank actually accelerated its gold buying (i.e., has retained more of the gold it markets for local producers than normally) in the face of increasing pressure on its foreign exchange reserves? As one commentator remarked:
“From the perspective of a sovereign which is concerned about aspects of geopolitical risk, it makes sense that they would have a bias toward physical gold,” Brian Lucey, a finance professor at Trinity College Dublin and formerly an economist for the Central Bank of Ireland, said today by phone. With lower gold prices, Russia may have viewed it “as good a time as any to pick it up,” he said.
Russian officials think about this exactly as Alan Greenspan does. When Greenspan was once asked why the US treasury shouldn't sell its remaining gold reserves, he pointed out that in extremis, such as in times of war, gold is absolutely certain to remain a viable means of payment that will be accepted by everybody. He cited the experience of Germany during WW2 to buttress this claim empirically.
We would also note that while Russian reserves have been under pressure due to capital flight and misguided attempts to defend the ruble's exchange rate with forex market interventions, its current account has been consistently positive since the mid 1990s:
