Economic security

Russia Seizes on Rally to Build Reserves After $120 Billion Drop

The ruble’s world-beating rally is enabling Russia to do something it wouldn’t have thought possible a few months ago: Rebuild currency reserves that slumped $120 billion in less than a year.
The Bank of Russia said on Thursday it would buy $100 million to $200 million a day in the market to replenish its cash pile, which tumbled to as low as $351 billion in April, the lowest since at least 2008. The reserves started falling in July last year as policy makers sought to defend a currency weighed down by U.S. and European sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.