According to the preliminary data, Belarus' gold and foreign currency reserves totaled $8.290,7 billion as of 1 July 2019, BelTA learned from the Information and PR Department of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.
In June 2019, the country's gold and foreign currency reserves went up by $200.7 million (or 2.5%) following the May growth by $521.6 million (6.9%).
In June 2019, the National Bank and the government of the Republic of Belarus honored the foreign and domestic obligations in foreign currency in the amount of about $250 million.
The growing price for gold on the international market was the major factor driving the growth of Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves in June. Other factors included the purchase of foreign currency by the central bank via the Belarusian Currency Stock Exchange, budget revenues, including export duties on oil and oil products, revenues from selling government bonds denominated in foreign currency by the Finance Ministry and the central bank. In addition, the central bank has updated the methodology of calculating gold and foreign exchange reserves, which resulted in the increase worth approximately $70 million.
According to the country's main monetary guidelines for 2019, the volume of international reserve assets is expected to make up at least $7.1 billion on 1 January 2020.
