Russian Central Bank: "Russia considers buying local currencies including Turkish lira"

Russian Central Bank said on Friday that Russia considers buying local currencies of "friendly" countries, including China, India and Turkey, in a move to partially compensate its recent loss of ability to buy global reserve currencies like the US dollar and euro due to sanctions imposed by the Western states against Russian occupation in Ukraine.

In a report on its monetary policy for 2023-2025, the central bank said that various options on how to replenish the National Wealth Fund (NWF) are currently being discussed, taking into account the sanctions against Russia.

“The Russian Ministry of Finance is working on the possibility of implementing an operational mechanism of the budget rule mechanism for the replenishment/spending of the NWF in currencies of friendly countries (yuan, rupees, Turkish lira and others),” the central bank said.

The NWF is managed by Russia's finance ministry but is part of the central bank’s international reserves, which also include yuan. These totaled around $640 billion as of February, of which nearly half was frozen under Western sanctions.