Interfax reports that in the first quarter of 2004 Vneshtorgbank (The Bank for Foreign Trade) increased the volume of gold bought from gold miners by 11% up to 3 tons of precious metal. 2 tons of gold were sold at the domestic market, 1 ton was sold abroad.

In 2004 the Bank plans to increase gold purchase volume up to 25 tons. In 2003 this figure amounted to 24.4 tons of gold.