US Treasuries still account for over 30% of Russia's intl reserves
MOSCOW. Sept 29 (Interfax) - US Treasuries continue to account for more than 30% of Russia's international reserves, Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists on Tuesday.
This percentage fluctuates by 1%-2% per month, he said. "This is normal movement. In this case, investment increases in the liabilities of other countries and bank deposits," he said.
Asked about the reduction in the share of US Treasuries in Russia's international reserves that was seen in July, Ulyukayev said the Central Bank does not carry out a special policy to lower or raise their share of the reserves. He said the decline could be attributed to current market quotations.
Commenting on the diversification of investing Russia's international reserves in various global currencies, Ulyukayev said this would be difficult to do right now because of the low capacity of the currency market.
"Unfortunately, Russia's forex reserves cannot really be significantly diversified. We have included the Swiss franc additionally, but the capacity of the market isn't such to carry out a large volume of operations. In principle, it could be possible [to invest reserves] in the Canadian or Australian dollar and other currencies, but the market's capacity limits the practical use of the reserves for a currency management policy," he said.