Russia Central Bank halts Gold Purchases

RonB

Something to pass the time.. Interesting read:

(Kitco 3/30) - More to come?

https://www.kitco.com/news/2020-03-30/Russian-central-bank-halts-gold-purchases.html

Edited to add: Plenty of gold in wrong places:

https://www.kitco.com/news/2020-03-30/Plenty-of-gold-sitting-in-wrong-location-and-in-wrong-form-Scotiabank.html?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation

SaorAlba

I'm not too worried that Russia will run out of gold. They have low cash from the oil war with Saudi Arabia and are going to sit awhile. Being a still rather state structured economy with the commands coming from the Kremlin they shouldn't have to worry much about market shocks with gold.

dcarr

Or maybe Russia secretly wants to buy more, at a lower price by making such an announcement ?

Or maybe this is part of a deal already arrived at between the USA and Russia (a meeting on the oil price has already been announced between the said parties). If Russia buys less gold, they can afford to hold back some oil and not sell it into the market thus bolstering the oil price.

ricko

Very interesting....Seems some high level manipulation afoot...Gold, oil - geo-finance at it's most intriguing....Well, beats watching re-runs of I love Lucy.... Cheers, RickO

derryb

waiting for premiums to come down. lol

cohodk

Russia has no economy. Their GDP is the same as 12 years ago. Their currency has declined 60% vs the dollar in the same time.

derryb

@cohodk said:
Russia has no economy. Their GDP is the same as 12 years ago. Their currency has declined 60% vs the dollar in the same time.

• Russians spend Russian currency. Comparing it to the dollar is irrelevant to Russians who transact only in Rubles. It would matter only if they needed to convert to dollars, buy hey, what does the average Russian need dollars for?
• Russian debt to GDP is 13.5%, while US debt to GDP is 105%.
• Russian annual GDP growth rate is 1.7% compared to US rate of 2.3
• Russia holds 30% of the world's natural resources, second largest producer of rare earth metals.
• Russia is in a better position than most to suffer the least from de-globalization.

At the risk of being labeled a commie by the poster, one could argue that Russia has a better economy than most.

SaorAlba

@derryb said:

@cohodk said:
Russia has no economy. Their GDP is the same as 12 years ago. Their currency has declined 60% vs the dollar in the same time.

• Russians spend Russian currency. Comparing it to the dollar is irrelevant to Russians who transact only in Rubles. It would matter only if they needed to convert to dollars, buy hey, what does the average Russian need dollars for?

That is indeed an interesting proposition, but reality is that the average Russian has more familiarity with US dollars than the average American has of any sort of familiarity with the Russian economy. Sure the Russian government wants to trade in rubles, yuan etc to get away from dollarisation but the average Russian having been through now three currency collapses in the last 30 years would prefer dollars. Even in the waning days of the Soviet Union when owning dollars was illegal people preferred dollars over rubles. I haven't been anywhere in the former USSR where dollars are not traded. Large transactions like cars, real estate and appliance purchases are in dollars. Rubles are only for the kiosks and supermarkets.

cohodk

@derryb said:

@cohodk said:
Russia has no economy. Their GDP is the same as 12 years ago. Their currency has declined 60% vs the dollar in the same time.

• Russians spend Russian currency. Comparing it to the dollar is irrelevant to Russians who transact only in Rubles. It would matter only if they needed to convert to dollars, buy hey, what does the average Russian need dollars for?
• Russian debt to GDP is 13.5%, while US debt to GDP is 105%.
• Russian annual GDP growth rate is 1.7% compared to US rate of 2.3
• Russia holds 30% of the world's natural resources, second largest producer of rare earth metals.
• Russia is in a better position than most to suffer the least from de-globalization.

At the risk of being labeled a commie by the poster, one could argue that Russia has a better economy than most.

I suppose one could argue, but as you say, perception is reality. Russia GDP vs USA GDP vs Libya GDP I say, knowledge is power. I guess youd want to argue that Libya's economy is better than most.