Evgeniy Goryunov, Head of Monetary Policy Department at the Gaidar Institute, told Izvestia why Bank of Russia is selling precious metals at global record prices.
According to the publication, gold prices are rising at a record pace, surpassing $4.000 per troy ounce. The main driver of this rise is the increased demand from central banks amid geopolitical instability. However, the Bank of Russia was one of the few regulators in the world that in 2025 actually reduced its gold reserves. According to Evgeniy Goryunov, such sales are being conducted as part of so-called mirroring operations.
"When the state budget spends NWF funds, additional rubles are injected into the economy," the expert explained. "To neutralize the effect of this infusion on the financial system, the Central Bank sells foreign currency or gold. In this case, the gold sale is not related to asset management, but to the Central Bank's desire to maintain predictable money supply dynamics while the Ministry of Finance is actively spending to finance the deficit."