OREANDA-NEWS  The value of Russia's gold reserves reached a record $217.4 billion in February, and the share of precious metals in total reserves exceeded a third for the first time since the twentieth century. This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to data from the Central Bank.

It is noted that the share of gold in the country's reserves was 34.4 percent, which turned out to be the highest since October 1999. At that time, it was 39.7 percent, although its value ($4.7 billion) was almost 50 times less than it is now.

As of March 1, domestic international reserves increased by 1.9 percent over the month, from $620.8 billion to $632.4 billion, according to the materials.

Earlier it became known that the Bank of Russia, together with the Central Bank of Jordan, became the world's main sellers of gold among regulators in January, selling three tons of precious metals each. The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan also entered the monthly top 3 according to the World Gold Council.