Russia's monetary base shows long-term expansion

The survey reveals a significant expansion of Russia's monetary base over nearly two decades, growing from 61.85 billion rubles in December 1994 to 7,431.1 billion rubles by February 2011.

This represents a substantial increase in the total amount of currency in circulation and commercial banks' reserves held at the central bank.

The broad definition of the monetary base includes currency issued, correspondent account balances of credit institutions with the Bank of Russia, required reserves, and credit institutions' balances on deposit accounts with the Bank of Russia.

This long-term trend reflects the evolution of the Russian economy and the central bank's operational framework, providing crucial insights into the liquidity conditions within the financial system and the overall scale of central bank liabilities.

A detailed breakdown of the monetary base components highlights the changing structure of central bank liabilities over time.

Initially, currency issued represented the largest share, accounting for 38.47 billion rubles in December 1994.

While currency in circulation continued to grow, other components like correspondent account balances and required reserves also increased substantially over the period.

For instance, correspondent account balances rose from 13.40 billion rubles in December 1994 to 633.6 billion rubles by February 2011.

The data also includes figures for Bank of Russia bonds (OBRs) held by banks, indicating the central bank's use of market-based instruments for liquidity management.