Russia Launches Its Golden Ruble

The ruble has been severely battered by sliding oil prices and continuously increasing tension in Ukraine. As result, it was capped at the lowest in the last eleven years. It climbed 0.3% and achieved a value of 46.70 per dollar in Moscow resulting in drop of 7.9% in its value in this week. The 7.9% cut in the ruble value is the highest since 2003. Moreover, ten-year bonds issued by Russian Government saw a decline for the third consecutive week. However, the Central Bank of Russia has pledged its willingness to support the ruble by adopting a strategy that indicates the launch of golden ruble by Russia.

After a steep decline of 3.7% in the ruble value, the central bank stated that it was ready to launch and enhance foreign-currency interventions and utilize other tools in the financial market to support ruble. This has been triggered by new fighting in Ukraine. Moreover, Brent’s largest retreat during last thirteen years resulted in weighing on the Russia’s assets due to lack of currency intervention policies by the Bank of Russia.

It is evident that Russia is going to launch its golden ruble because it has responded to weakening currency by expanding its gold holdings. When plunging oil-prices and international sanctions were pushing the ruble to record low value as discussed above, Russia was adding to its gold holdings by converting its reserves in gold. Nearly 150 metric tons of gold bars have been purchased by the central bank of Russia during 2014 as stated by Elvira Nabiullina, the governor, while talking to lawmakers.

The estimated quantity of bullions purchased till September 2014 was only 115 metric tons. Thus, the central bank has added 35 tons of gold during past three months according to the data issued by IMF (International Monetary Fund). Russia purchased over 37 tons of gold during September that is the highest amount purchased per month since 1998. It was stated by Ole Hansen, an official at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, that gold market has struggled to find any friends in the recent past. However, the news of Russia buying large quantities of gold renders some support to this market. The gold reserves of Russia have tripled since 2005 as it is currently hoarding nearly 1,185 tons. Russian policymakers have been increasing interest rates for last four months in order to control capital outflows and strengthen the currency.

The gold hoarding by Russia may be an indication of the plan to launch its golden ruble as Gaddafi, in Libya, had plans to introduce a gold dinar. It would be a single currency made of gold and would ensure fair sharing of wealth. If some nations of the world join together to create the golden ruble, it may rival the euro and dollar. The trade between the allies may occur in golden ruble. The launch of golden ruble may shift the financial balance of the globe. After this launch, the wealth of a country would depend on its gold hoardings instead of dollars and Russia has the fifth largest gold reserves at the moment.