How Can Putin Afford War In Ukraine? His $130 Billion Gold Hoard Helps
How can Russian President Vladimir Putin afford the costs—both direct and indirect—of a new war in Ukraine? Easy—he’s been preparing for years. Russia’s central bank reserves now stand at $640 billion, a record. That pile is equivalent to 17 months of Russian export revenues, and continues to grow, thanks to surging oil prices.
Russia exports some 5 million barrels per day of crude oil, plus 2.5 million bpd of refined petroleum products, according to Cowen & Co., amounting to about 10% of the global oil trade. With Brent crude hitting an eight-year high of $88.88 this morning, that amounts to more than $600 million a day in petro-cash.
On top of that is 23 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports (roughly 2 bcfd of which now transits through Ukraine)—worth another $400 million a day at today’s elevated European prices.
Importantly, it’s no longer apt to refer to Russia’s fossil fuel income as “petro-dollars,” as Putin has been working hard to “de-dollarize” the Russian economy. Back in 2013 Russia received dollars for 95% of its exports to Brazil, India, South Africa and China. Today, according to the Congressional Research Service, after a decade of de-dollarization just 10% of that trade is in greenbacks.
And Putin has created new payment processing systems, as a replacement for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT (from which Biden has threatened to cut Russia off); in 2015 after U.S. sanctions Moscow launched the Mir payment platform (now even connected to Apple Pay).
How can Russian President Vladimir Putin afford the costs—both direct and indirect—of a new war in Ukraine? Easy—he’s been preparing for years. Russia’s central bank reserves now stand at $640 billion, a record. That pile is equivalent to 17 months of Russian export revenues, and continues to grow, thanks to surging oil prices.
Russia exports some 5 million barrels per day of crude oil, plus 2.5 million bpd of refined petroleum products, according to Cowen & Co., amounting to about 10% of the global oil trade. With Brent crude hitting an eight-year high of $88.88 this morning, that amounts to more than $600 million a day in petro-cash.
On top of that is 23 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports (roughly 2 bcfd of which now transits through Ukraine)—worth another $400 million a day at today’s elevated European prices.
Importantly, it’s no longer apt to refer to Russia’s fossil fuel income as “petro-dollars,” as Putin has been working hard to “de-dollarize” the Russian economy. Back in 2013 Russia received dollars for 95% of its exports to Brazil, India, South Africa and China. Today, according to the Congressional Research Service, after a decade of de-dollarization just 10% of that trade is in greenbacks.
And Putin has created new payment processing systems, as a replacement for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT (from which Biden has threatened to cut Russia off); in 2015 after U.S. sanctions Moscow launched the Mir payment platform (now even connected to Apple Pay).
How Can Putin Afford War In Ukraine? His $130 Billion Gold Hoard Helps
How can Russian President Vladimir Putin afford the costs—both direct and indirect—of a new war in Ukraine? Easy—he’s been preparing for years. Russia’s central bank reserves now stand at $640 billion, a record. That pile is equivalent to 17 months of Russian export revenues, and continues to grow, thanks to surging oil prices.
Russia exports some 5 million barrels per day of crude oil, plus 2.5 million bpd of refined petroleum products, according to Cowen & Co., amounting to about 10% of the global oil trade. With Brent crude hitting an eight-year high of $88.88 this morning, that amounts to more than $600 million a day in petro-cash.
On top of that is 23 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas exports (roughly 2 bcfd of which now transits through Ukraine)—worth another $400 million a day at today’s elevated European prices.
Importantly, it’s no longer apt to refer to Russia’s fossil fuel income as “petro-dollars,” as Putin has been working hard to “de-dollarize” the Russian economy. Back in 2013 Russia received dollars for 95% of its exports to Brazil, India, South Africa and China. Today, according to the Congressional Research Service, after a decade of de-dollarization just 10% of that trade is in greenbacks.
And Putin has created new payment processing systems, as a replacement for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT (from which Biden has threatened to cut Russia off); in 2015 after U.S. sanctions Moscow launched the Mir payment platform (now even connected to Apple Pay).