MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - The continued strong rise in Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves is due to the high world prices for Russia's main commodity exports, a deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia said Wednesday.
"As of now, the reserves are just under $270 billion," Konstantin Korishchenko said. "The causes [of the increase] are generally predetermined by the macroeconomic situation in the country and macroeconomic policy."
He said the growth in reserves is due in particular to high oil prices, but added that the existing volume of the CBR's international reserves is problematic.
According to the CBR, as of October 6, Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves stood at $267.9 billion, up 47% from January 1, 2006, when they totaled $182.2 billion.
