Belarus's gold, foreign exchange reserves grow 33% in Jan-July

MINSK. Aug 5 (Interfax) - Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves reached a new record high of $11.938 billion as of August 1, 2025, compared to $8.923 billion at the beginning of the year, the National Bank of Belarus said.

The previous record level of gold and foreign exchange reserves was set on July 1 this year at $11.54 billion.

The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves thus increased by $3.02 billion or 33.8% in January-July. In July, they grew 3.5% (by $401 million) after a 3.4% increase of $379.3 million in June and a 2% rise of $216 million in May.

The growth of Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves in January-July is attributed to rising global gold prices and large-scale currency purchases by the National Bank.

The value of monetary gold in the reserves amounted to $5.72 billion as of August 1, having increased 26.5% (by $1.2 billion) since the beginning of the year. In July, the gold price rose 0.5% after a 0.4% increase in June, a 0.8% decline in May and 26.5% growth in January-April.

Foreign currency reserves grew 57.8% (by $1.77 billion) in January-July, reaching $4.82 billion. In July, foreign exchange reserves increased 8.7%, in June - 8.2%, in May - 7% and in April - 15.5%.

Special drawing rights (SDR) account for $1.4 billion of the reserves.

Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased 9.8% in 2024 after declining 2.5% in 2023 and 5.9% in 2022.

According to the National Bank's target forecast, the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves should reach at least $7.1 billion by the end of 2025.