Russia “trusts and believes” in the euro and has no plans to change its share in the nation’s reserves, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
“The European economic authorities are acting absolutely correctly,” Putin said ahead of his visit to Paris on Thursday. “This confirms yet again that we have no plans to change our relationship to the euro as a reserve currency and its proportion in our reserves.”
Russia’s international reserves are made up of 47 percent dollars, 41 percent euros, 10 percent pounds and 2 percent yen, First Deputy Central Bank Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said in November. The reserves, the world’s third biggest stockpile, reached $455 billion by May 28.
Putin’s comments echo remarks by Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin last month. “I am confident in the future of the euro,” he said on May 25. The dollar lost twice its value in the late 1980s, which “didn’t diminish its role as a reserve currency.”
The euro touched a four-year low against the dollar on June 7 and has dropped more than 16 percent this year as the fiscal crisis that started in Greece made money managers wary that some debt-swamped nations might default or revert to old currencies.
“Much still has to be done” in Europe to solve problems including raising fiscal discipline, Putin said. “But the fundamentals of the European economy are on the whole pretty strong,” he said, the news service reported.