Russia’s Central Bank Stops Buying Gold (At Fixed Prices)

(April 12th, 2022 - Charles Sunnat)

My dear contemptible, dear innocent,

News of Russia’s central bank’s gold purchase has been circulating for the past few days.

I had expressed my doubts and my reservations about such a strategy, and I proved that it had nothing to do with the “re-monetization” of the yellow metal.

This does not mean that this monetization of gold will not happen again, on the contrary, we have never been so close to it.

But this does not mean the decision of the Russian Central Bank.

Also, in this changing environment that is ours, things always change very quickly and in this case just like everyone else.

Russia’s central bank says it will stop buying gold at a fixed price

Russia’s central bank said on Thursday it would buy gold from commercial banks at negotiable prices from April 8 due to a “significant change in market conditions”. On March 25, the bank said it would buy gold at a fixed price of 5,000 rubles per gram until June 30.

Following the announcement, the ruble strengthened against the dollar. Five thousand rubles was worth about $ 52 on March 25 and $ 63 on Thursday.

The price of gold in the international market was stable at about $ 60 per gram or $ 1900 per ounce.

Russia is one of the world’s largest gold producers, but after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February, the country’s refineries were banned from selling gold in the world’s largest London market. ($ 1 = 78.6830 rubles)

Central Bank buys gold at… “variable” prices!

The decision of the Russian Central Bank is not unreasonable. On the contrary, depending on the evolution of the ruble trend, it will be forced to be more active, which by definition is unstable during war and sanctions.

For now, the Russian government has succeeded in stabilizing the course of its currency and bringing its currency back to its pre-war level. So buying 5,000 rubles of gold is a “bad deal” because Russia may have bought it at a much cheaper price in the international market.

In short, here you can clearly see that Russia is not trying to add gold to its monetary system, but is trying to increase gold reserves at the best possible price to cope with all events, including a return to a form. Gold grade.

It was already too late, but not all was lost.