Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday the country's gold and foreign exchange (Forex) reserves could reach 200 billion US dollars by the end of this year.

Gold and foreign exchange reserves will grow by 80 billion dollars this year, up from the previous forecast of 50 billion dollars, Kudrin told a cabinet meeting.

Statistics showed that Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves stood at 124.5 billion dollars on Jan. 1, and increased to 151.8 billion dollars as of July 1.

The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves have swelled thanks to high oil prices on the international market as oil is a main Russian export item, Kudrin said.

Russian gold and foreign exchange reserves rank fifth in the world, following Japan, China, China's Taiwan and South Korea.

Source: Xinhua