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Russia is considering a plan to buy as much as $70 billion in yuan and other “friendly” currencies this year to slow the ruble’s surge, before shifting to a longer-term strategy of selling its holdings of the Chinese currency to fund investment, reported Bloomberg News.
The proposal is among a slew of measures that would amount to an effective repudiation of more than a decade of economic policy as the Kremlin overhauls its strategy amid sweeping sanctions imposed by the US and its allies over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In the new situation, accumulating liquid foreign exchange reserves for future crises is extremely difficult and not expedient,” said the text of a proposal prepared for a meeting of Russian government and central bank officials, the report said.
The plan won initial support at a special “strategic planning meeting” of top government and central bank officials including Governor Elvira Nabiullina on August 30, according to the report.