Russia's Central Bank has increased the share of the Canadian dollar in its reserves to one percent and cut its British pound reserves from ten to nine percent, Central Bank Chairman Sergei Ignatyev said on Thursday.
The structure of U.S. dollar and euro holdings has been unchanged at 47 percent and 41 percent while the Japanese yen continues to account for two percent of Russia's international reserves.
Russia's top banker siad the central bank had not yet made any decision on investing in the Australian dollar.
"We are still exploring this possibility," he said, adding that the central bank did not see any risk of investing Russia's international reserves in Italian and Japanese assets.
"There is nothing horrible about that. These are very small stakes. As for Italy, it fully complies with its obligations," he said.
Standard & Poor's international rating agency downgraded its forecast on Japan's long-term rating to negative from stable in April and in May it cut its forecast on Italy's ratings from stable to negative.
Earlier on Thursday, Andrei Kostin, head of the country's second-largest bank, VTB, said instability on the international market threatened Russia's macroeconomic stability, mentioning the United States, Greece, Portugal and Spain as risk-bearing countries.
ST. PETERSBURG, May 26 (RIA Novosti)
