Russia - Replace US Dollar With Gold
From Russia Today....
Russian gold could become the perfect alternative to conservative
investments in the greenback, the CEO of Russia’s key trading floor,
Moscow Exchange (MOEX), believes. “Let’s offer an alternative to the
US dollar in the form of Russian gold, which we produce… investment
gold,” CEO Alexander Afanasiev suggested, speaking in the Lower
House of Russia’s parliament on Monday.
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He added that some “super-conservative investors” purchase dollars
and keep them “under the pillow,” which is not very safe, he believes.
The MOEX chief also noted that Russians have increased their
investment activity and act “surprisingly rational.”
Russia is the world’s third-largest gold producer and in 2017 boosted
its gold output by more than six percent. It produced almost 265
tons of gold in January-October 2018, according to data provided by
the Finance Ministry. However, some analysts doubted Afanasiev’s idea,
warning that using the precious metal instead of the US dollar might
be simply inconvenient.
“Gold does not have liquidity of the dollar. As practice shows,
settlements in it are inconvenient for individuals,” metals and
mining director Nikolai Sosnovsky from Prosperity Capital Management
told TASS on Tuesday. He explained that Russia has no “normal”
financial instruments for investments in precious metals, including
unfavorable conditions for metal accounts and VAT for physical gold.
Last week, Russia outpaced China and became the fifth largest gold
holder in the world. The Central Bank of Russia reported that it
purchased 8.8 million troy ounces of gold in January-November 2018,
boosting gold reserves to almost 68 million troy ounces (2,125 tons).