According to the preliminary data, Belarus' gold and foreign currency reserves totaled $8,830.9 million as of 1 October 2019, BelTA learned from the Information and PR Department of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.
In September 2019, the country's gold and foreign currency reserves went down by $60.1 million (or 0.7%) following the August growth by $263.1 million (3%).
“In September, 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 $355 million,” the central bank said.
Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves were bolstered thanks to budget revenues, including export duties on oil and oil products, the purchase of foreign currency by the central bank via the Belarusian Currency Stock Exchange and revenues from selling government bonds nominated in foreign currency by the Finance Ministry.
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.