Russia Prepares to Buy Canada, Australia Dollars for First Time

Russia may add the Australian and Canadian dollars to its international reserves for the first time after fluctuations in the U.S. dollar and euro.

“Adding the Australian dollar is being discussed,” Alexei Ulyukayev, the central bank’s first deputy chairman, said in an interview at an event hosted by Bloomberg in Moscow. “There are pros and cons. We have added the Canadian dollar but haven’t yet begun operations” with the currency.

Russia’s reserves are made up of 47 percent U.S. dollars, 41 percent euros, 10 percent British pounds and 2 percent Japanese yen, Ulyukyaev said in November. That’s a shift from 2006, when the central bank said it held 50 percent of its reserves in dollars, 40 percent in euros and the remaining 10 percent in yen and pounds. Russia’s international reserves, the world’s third biggest, reached $458.2 billion on May 14. (more)