Russian Central Bank lowers share of dollar in reserves

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian Central Bank lowered the share of dollar in the international reserves by 24.4 percent in 2018.

Simultaneously, the bank increased the share of euros by 32 percent and of Chinese yuan by 14.7 percent, according to the banks' annual report about gold and currencies reserves management, published on Thursday on its official website.

The bank also increased the share of other currencies from 12.4 to 14.7 percent, including British pounds -- up to 6.3 percent, Japanese yens to 4.5 percent, Canadian and Australian dollars up to 2.9 and 1.0 percent respectively.

Russia has difficulties in international payments in dollars because of Western sanctions imposed on the number of leading banks of the country.

To hedge the risks related to the sanctions and to diminish the dependence on the U.S. dollar, Moscow tries to boost the payments in alternative currencies.