According to data published by the Ministry of Finance in Moscow on Friday, Russians bought a record amount of gold bullion in 2022, Reuters and Agerpres reported.

Last March, Moscow abolished the 20% VAT rate on gold purchases by individuals in an attempt to persuade Russians to stop using the US dollar as a safe-haven currency.

In addition, the Ministry of Finance in Moscow exempted the population from paying taxes on the profit received from the sale of gold bars, which further stimulated the demand for the precious metal.

According to official data, Russians bought more than 50 tons of gold bars last year, which is ten times more than in 2021. Ingots weighing one kilogram were in the greatest demand, which accounted for about 60% of the total number of ingots sold.

In addition, these figures are not final and cover only the period until the end of November 2022, the Russian Ministry of Finance said.

Russia accused the West of stealing its gold reserves

Separately, Russian state bank VTB said it sold 33.8 tonnes of gold bullion to clients in 2022, adding that its clients currently hold 50 billion rubles ($711 million) worth of gold.

“Last year, gold was a good financial protection solution. Clients transferred funds to this instrument in order to diversify their assets and make a profit, being their long-term plans,” said Yevhen Beresnev, VTB Investment Products Department.

In October of last year, the press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmytro Peskov, accused some Western countries of “essentially” stealing Russia’s gold reserves by freezing them abroad.

Peskov’s comments came after European Council President Charles Michel said last week that the EU should consider transferring frozen Russian assets to Kyiv following a series of attacks by Russian armed forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

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