Russia strives to reduce its dependence on the US dollar and therefore continues to search for alternatives to it. Not long ago, a cryptocurrency, in particular Bitcoin, became a subject for consideration. This time, special attention has been paid to gold.
This idea was raised by Chief Executive Officer of the Moscow Exchange Alexander Afanasyev. He noted that Russian gold could be considered as an alternative to investments into the US dollar. According to Alexander, some “super-conservative investors” purchase dollars and keep them “under a pillow” which is not a reliable method. The only thing that stands in the way is VAT. He believes that in its current form, the tax prevents the gold market from developing. While the countries which became free of the tax (Singapore, China, Germany, and Switzerland) immediately noticed growth in the market.
During 2018, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation was buying monetary gold to boost gold and foreign exchange reserves. As of January 1, 2019, its reserves amounted to 2,112 tons. Thus, over the past year, the Central Bank has bought 80 percent of the expected metal production, or 96 percent of the entire metal extracted of the bowels. As a result, Russia has outpaced China in terms of gold reserves. So, now it is the right moment to review the current legislation.
