In February 2016 Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves rose by $84.2 million if calculated in accordance with methods of the International Monetary Fund. According to preliminary data, the reserves totaled $4,111 million as of 1 March, BelTA learned from the statistics released by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.
In national terms the volume of the gold and foreign exchange reserves grew by $99.5 million to $4,375.2 million as of 1 March 2016.
Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves were bolstered thanks to revenues from selling government bonds nominated in foreign currency by the Finance Ministry and the central bank, thanks to rising prices for gold on the international market of precious metals, foreign currency purchases by the regulator via the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange, and revenues from export duties on oil and oil products.
The fact that the government and the central bank had to honor domestic and foreign commitments in foreign currency in full had a negative effect on the volume of Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Written by belta.by
