Russia's gold reserves up by $112bln

Russia's gold reserves have increased by $112 billion in just one year, thanks to rising prices for the precious metal, according to the Bank of Russia data.

At the beginning of December last year, the Bank of Russia held $198.1 billion worth of gold bars in its vaults, while a year later, the figure had risen to $310.7 billion.

Over the past 12 months, the price of the metal has increased by about 60%, to $4,300 from $2,600 per troy ounce.

At the same time, in physical terms, Russia's gold reserves, on the contrary, have decreased slightly to 2,326 tonnes.