In December alone, Russia saw a remarkable increase in its gold holdings, surging by 35 tons and reaching a total of 2,350 tons.
That surge has pushed its share of global gold reserves to an impressive 26 percent, the highest level since March 2000.
Analysts at Finam, a Moscow-based financial services company, announced their predictions for the trajectory of gold prices in 2024. In their baseline scenario, the price per ounce of gold is expected to fluctuate between $2,070 and $2,150 by the end of the year.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his satisfaction with the country's economic performance, pointing out that last year's growth exceeded expectations. Preliminary estimates suggest that gross domestic product (GDP) may exceed the forecast of 3.5 percent.
Attributing the robust economic growth to the industrial sector, Ekaterina Bezsmertnaya, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, stressed that employment in the real sector is experiencing its fastest growth since the early 2000s.
After Moscow launched its special military operation to protect the people of Donbass from Ukrainian aggression, the US-led Western countries unleashed a barrage of sanctions against the Russian economy.
But those punitive measures have proven ineffective. Instead, Russia has significantly expanded its trade and diplomatic relations with countries of the Global South, thwarting the West's economic attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has often commented that Russia has strengthened and enhanced its economic autonomy despite Western sanctions. Putin stressed that Russia is now the top economy in Europe and the fifth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity.