Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves of the "Cockroach" Fell to a Threshold Level

The gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to their lowest level since April 2019.

As of October 1, the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Belarus amounted to $ 7.321.4 million and fell to their lowest level since April 2019, naviny.by reports.

The main directions of monetary policy for 2020 assume that international reserve assets as of January 1, 2021, should be at least $ 7.3 billion.

"In September 2020, gold and foreign exchange reserves decreased by USD 136.4 million (by 1.8%) after falling by USD 1.399.6 million (by 15.8%) in August," the National Bank said.

According to the regulator, the decrease in the level of reserves in September "is mainly due to the planned repayment by the government of external and internal liabilities in foreign currency in the amount of $ 299.7 million, as well as a decrease in the cost of monetary gold."

The maintenance of the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves in September, according to the National Bank, was facilitated by the purchase of foreign currency by the bank in the domestic market, as well as the receipt of foreign currency in the budget.

Foreign analysts suggest that by the end of the year, Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves may fall below the target ($ 7.3 billion), which was determined by the National Bank of Belarus in the main directions of monetary policy.

"According to our calculations, by the end of this year, the volume of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves may fall below $ 7 billion, including due to the need to repay and service public debt," says the September review, which was prepared by analysts at the Eurasian Development Bank.

As of January 1, Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $ 9,393.5 million. Thus, since the beginning of the year, they have decreased by more than $ 2 billion.

This year, reserves dropped significantly twice: in March - by $ 1,018.4 million, in August - by $ 1,399.8 million. The decrease in reserves was due to the growth of devaluation expectations, which, according to economists, in March were caused by a pandemic, and in August - by a political crisis. A significant increase in reserves was observed only in June - thanks to the sale of Eurobonds, the reserves of Belarus in the first summer month increased by $ 916.3 million.