Rating of countries by gold and foreign exchange reserves for 2021

Hello, dear readers of the Tyulyagin ! In today's article you will learn what gold and foreign exchange reserves are, why countries accumulate them and what they are needed for. In addition, I will provide a rating and list of countries with the largest volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves in the world.

What are gold and foreign exchange reserves?

Gold and foreign exchange reserves (GRE) are highly liquid assets that are under the control of the state, namely under the control of their financial regulators - usually the Central Bank or the Ministry of Finance. These highly liquid assets include monetary gold, reserve foreign currencies, SDRs and the reserve position of the International Monetary Fund, to which the owner of the country can turn and receive funds upon request.

Gold and foreign exchange reserves, or international reserves as they are also called, are one of the most effective and liquid instruments that the state has to provide the country’s currency. However, it is not the only one; in addition, the Central Bank also has external and internal loans and deposits, securities and fixed assets on its balance sheet to provide the country’s currency.

“Democracy” has nothing to do with it: when do the IMF and the USA declare war on corruption?

Please note: it is possible to reduce (“eat up”) gold and foreign currency reserves only through “covering the budget deficit” (i.e., through paying expenses that exceed state revenues). From here

• The media spread many myths about the “exorbitant demands of the IMF” to introduce a “moratorium on increasing wages and pensions”, to raise the “retirement age”, excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, prices for natural gas and electricity, advocate the free sale of “national” land and etc.;
• in reality, the IMF requires only one thing: that budget expenditures do not exceed its revenues by more than 2%, remaining within the average inflation range ( i.e., that politicians do not go into gold and foreign exchange reserves ), and if they “fail” to equalize the growing expenses with real incomes, only then the IMF recommends applying the “standard set” of reducing subsidies from the state budget to the pension fund, etc.);
• At the same time, the IMF and the United States sharply intensified the fight against corruption, not for the sake of abstract “high ideals,” but purely out of pragmatic interests, so that local officials would not once again steal the gold and foreign exchange reserves of their country, otherwise the United States would have to (once again!) give them a new one an IMF loan to support the sale of imported goods in this country and the possibility of withdrawing money from it to Western banks;
• important: the gold and currency reserves of most countries of the world de facto already belong to the US Federal Reserve System (since the amount of debts to creditors exceeded the value of the gold and currency reserves of these countries themselves - see the amount of external debt by country). Thus, local officials are trying to steal... “US property”, which is why the fight against corruption has reached a new level and will become increasingly fierce;
• Why is the United States fighting corruption under the banner of protecting “democratic values” without naming the real reason for its war on corruption in the world? Think for yourself what a different explanation would look like from the lips of the White House: that some thieves - corrupt officials of Ukraine (Indonesia, Iraq, Albania...) are stealing our money, for which they should be severely punished? And how many unnecessary questions would arise at once... And so, everything is simple, decorous and noble: the United States protects hundreds of nations from their corrupt officials, establishing democratic values ​​in the world;
• in our opinion, an excellent explanation for the “crowd”. The main creditor, guarding his capital, acts as a “noble knight” and this interpretation of events is perceived with approval by the majority of the world’s population.

Thus, gold and foreign exchange reserves (gold reserves) according to the Jamaican currency system (from 1976 to the present day) are

• NOT investment funds for the construction of infrastructure facilities (bridges, roads, pipelines, etc.) - these costs are financed from the state budget approved by parliament;
• NOT reserve funds for extinguishing fires and eliminating natural disasters (money for these purposes is taken from the budget of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and reserve funds of the Cabinet of Ministers;
• NOT an “inheritance” in the form of “gold reserves” for the younger generation (officials will leave debts to the children).

Gold and foreign exchange reserves (GFR) are money to ensure the current solvency of the country and the free conversion of its national currency on the foreign exchange market.

Composition and structure of gold and foreign exchange reserves

A few decades ago, the main component of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves was the country's monetary gold, or in other words, precious stones and metals, which, in addition to gold in bars and coins, included silver, platinum, palladium and diamonds.

However, with the departure from the gold standard and the conclusion of the Bretton Woods agreement, the United States began to actively promote the dollar as a key reserve currency on the world stage. Later they came to their senses in Europe and also created their own single reserve currency - the euro.

That is, since 1944, many countries began to include reserve currencies in their gold and foreign currency reserves in addition to gold. In addition to the dollar and euro, reserve currencies also include the British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and from 2021, the Chinese yuan. However, the largest share in the basket of reserve currencies is occupied by the dollar and the euro; for 2021, their shares are 61.6 and 20.69 percent, respectively.

In addition to reserve currencies, there are SDRs or SDRs - special drawing rights - this is an artificial reserve payment instrument created by the IMF. as well as state quotas in the IMF, in another way - the reserve position. The IMF's reserve position is the government's reserves contributed to the international monetary fund at the time of its accession.

Thus, the structure of gold and foreign exchange reserves includes:

• monetary gold
• reserve currencies
• SDR (SDR)
• reserve position in the International Monetary Fund

The key share in the country's gold and currency reserves is usually occupied by gold and reserve currencies. Until now, the country's gold reserves are of utmost importance. It is believed that the larger the share of gold in reserves, the more stable the exchange rate of the national currency.

Why did gold become the universal equivalent of value?

What is the reason for such a high popularity and demand for this precious metal? According to K. Marx, gold was one of the first metals discovered by people in their time. First extracted from the sands of the Arabian desert in the form of grains and small nuggets, gold served as a powerful stimulus for the development of Ancient Egypt.

The answer to the above question can be found by conducting a small thought experiment. One has only to distract oneself from everything around him for a second and imagine gold in any form, and immediately many associations of the most diverse nature arise. And this is not without reason. After all, gold is of great rarity and amazing beauty.

, providing a special aesthetic and emotional impact on a person. Even more expensive platinum cannot compete with it in this matter.

Given its excellent properties:

• strength,
• plastic,
• resistance to external aggressive chemical influences,
• possibility of long-term storage,
• divisibility,
• widespread (albeit in extremely small quantities and at considerable depth) in all parts of the world;
• high cost compatible with ease of storage,

…we have to admit that this chemical element plays the role of a kind of connecting link

when carrying out a variety of financial transactions and relationships.
Relations carried out at any
historical time throughout the entire territory of our planet!

Which in itself is already a unique fact that speaks of special universality

gold as a chemical element and a means of financial circulation.

Why are gold and foreign exchange reserves needed and why do countries accumulate them?

The main generally accepted role of gold and foreign exchange reserves is considered to be ensuring the stability of the national currency exchange rate, as well as the stability of the entire financial situation of the state. Gold and foreign currency reserves are an indicator and guarantee that the country will fulfill its obligations.

Gold and foreign exchange reserves are much more important for countries with economies isolated from the outside world. Since such countries rely less on credits and borrowings from other countries and the International Monetary Fund.

It cannot be completely stated that a large volume of gold and foreign currency reserves will always ensure a stable exchange rate of the country’s national currency. Much depends on the general state of the economy of each specific country, its development and orientation. However, the state of gold and foreign currency reserves always indirectly affects the main macroeconomic indicators, including the exchange rate, the size of the country's balance of payments and the level of inflation.

The state can use its gold and foreign exchange reserves to cover the balance of payments deficit, maintain the exchange rate of the national currency, pay external debts and transactions with other countries, for internal social payments to the population and other budget needs.

In simple words, gold and foreign currency reserves are a safety net for unforeseen and emerging negative economic circumstances (for a rainy day).

Gold and foreign exchange reserves of Russia

In general, since the 2000s, gold and foreign exchange reserves have been growing steadily, but there were also significant declines during the crisis years. In 2008-2009, during the international financial crisis, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves fell from $596,000 million to $390,000 million. In 2014, during the Ukrainian crisis and sanctions from the United States and other countries, Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves also decreased significantly from $520,000 million up to $350,000 million at the moment. However, in recent years, until the summer of 2021, Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves have been growing steadily.

Currently, Russia ranks fourth in terms of gold and foreign exchange reserves among all countries in the world. The volume of all Russian gold and foreign currency reserves as of January 17, 2021 is about $558,900 million , which allows it to overtake Saudi Arabia and rise from fifth to fourth place in the ranking.

As for the structure of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves, since 2008 Russia has been actively increasing the share of gold reserves in gold and foreign currency reserves. So, if in 2008 the share of monetary gold was only 2.5%, then in 22019 its share was already about 19%. In recent years, Russia has become the world leader in purchasing gold, having overtaken China in terms of the total amount of gold reserves and taking fifth place in the world after the USA, Germany, Italy and France.

The first place in the share of Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves is occupied by the euro, and is about 32-34%; in recent years, the share of the dollar has been declining and currently it is only about 20%, although a couple of years ago the share was 30+ percent. The share of the Chinese yuan has increased significantly, its share in the first quarter of 2021 is about 14%. There are also other currencies in the gold and foreign exchange reserves: British pound - 6%, Japanese yen - 4.5%, Canadian dollar - 2.8% and Australian dollar about 1%.

Rating of gold and foreign exchange reserves by countries of the world

Below I present to your attention the ranking of the top 100 countries in the world by the amount of gold and foreign exchange reserves in millions of US dollars as of 2018-2019.

And that’s all for today about the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the world’s countries. I hope you were interested in reading the ranking of the world’s countries by gold and foreign exchange reserves. Add the rating to your bookmarks! See you again in new publications on the Tyulyagin project!

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Gold reserves in the reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation reached 2242.56 tons

Before comparing, I would like to make one extremely significant circumstance that anti-Sovietists are unable to categorically comprehend.
The USSR lost about a third of its national wealth in 1941-1945 as a result of the German attack alone. In material terms, this is the following: The regions of the USSR that were under temporary occupation occupied a significant share on the eve of the Patriotic War in relation to the entire territory of the USSR: in population - 45%, in gross industrial output - 33%, in cultivated areas - 47% , in the number of livestock (translated into cattle) - 45% and in the length of railway tracks - 55%.

The Nazi invaders and their accomplices burned and destroyed 1,710 cities and towns, more than 70,000 villages, and 1.5 million buildings and structures were completely or partially destroyed. About 25 million people lost their homes. Also, 31,850 industrial enterprises were destroyed and destroyed (of which engineering and metallurgical enterprises played a particularly important role, accounting for up to 60% of the gross pre-war product), not counting small enterprises and workshops, 1,876 state farms, 2,890 machine and tractor stations, 98,000 collective farms, 216,700 shops, canteens, restaurants and other commercial enterprises, 4,100 railway stations, 36,000 postal and telegraph institutions, telephone exchanges, radio stations and other communications enterprises, 6,000 hospitals, 33,000 clinics, dispensaries and outpatient clinics, 976 sanatoriums and 656 rest homes, 82,000 primary and secondary schools, 1,520 special educational institutions - technical schools, 334 higher educational institutions, 605 research institutes and other scientific institutions, 427 museums, 43,000 public libraries and 167 theaters.

Destroyed, destroyed or stolen by the German occupiers and their accomplices on the territory of the USSR, which was subject to occupation, 175 thousand metal-cutting machines, 34 thousand hammers and presses, 2700 cutters, 15 thousand jackhammers, 5 million kilowatts of power plant capacity, 62 blast furnaces, 213 open-hearth furnaces, 45 thousand weaving looms and 3 million spinning spindles. Material damage was caused to the most valuable basic industrial assets of the USSR.

Of the 122 thousand km of railway track that was before the war on the territory of the USSR, which was subject to occupation, 65 thousand km of railway [160] track were destroyed and plundered by the occupiers. 15,800 locomotives and 428,000 carriages were damaged. The occupiers destroyed, sank and captured 4,280 passenger, cargo and tugboats of river transport and technical auxiliary fleet vessels and 4,029 non-self-propelled vessels. Of the 26 thousand railway bridges, 13 thousand were destroyed. All 2078 thousand km of telegraph and telephone communication lines in the occupied regions of the USSR were destroyed or stolen by the German occupiers.

The housing stock of the USSR population was subjected to barbaric destruction through explosions and arson. Of the 2,567 thousand residential buildings in the cities of the USSR that were subject to occupation, 1,209 thousand houses were destroyed and destroyed, and in terms of living space, this number of houses accounted for over 50% of the total urban residential area of ​​these cities. Of the 12 million residential buildings of the rural population of the regions of the USSR that were subject to occupation, 3.5 million residential buildings were destroyed and destroyed by the German occupiers.

There was nothing close in the USA. On the contrary, due to the war, the United States doubled its GDP.