Russia's international reserves as of February 20, 2015, amounted to $364.6 billion against $368.3 billion as of February 13, 2015, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation reported, according to Prime Business News Agency.
Thus, the international reserves shrank by $3.7 billion, or 1%, over the week.
"The international reserves of the Russian Federation shrank by $3.7 billion, or 1%, over the week from February 13 to February 20, mainly due to operations by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to provide liquidity in foreign currency to credit institutions on condition of repayment," the Central Bank's press service said.
Russia's international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets that are available to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Russian government. They include assets denominated in foreign currency, special drawing rights (SDRs), the reserve position in the International Monetary Fund, and monetary gold.
By the end of 2014, Russia's international reserves had seen a decrease by 1.3 times, to $385.46 billion.
