Belarus's gold, forex reserves grow 1.6-fold in 2025 to record $14.4 bln
MINSK. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves as of January 1, 2026, have again set a new record and reached $14.4 billion compared to $8.92 billion at the beginning of 2025, the country's National Bank said.
Prior to this, the record level of gold and foreign exchange reserves was set on December 1 last year at $13.9 billion.
The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves have therefore increased by $5.5 billion or 61.4% over the past year. In December, they increased 3.8% (by $526.2 million) after growing 1.3% (by $177.2 million) in November and 3.3% (by $441 million) in October.
The record increase in Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves last year is explained by a sharp rise in global gold prices, as well as large-scale currency purchases by the National Bank.
The value of monetary gold in the reserves at the beginning of this year amounted to $7.47 billion, up almost 1.7-fold ($2.95 billion) over the year; in December it increased 2.9% ($214.1 million).
Foreign exchange reserves last year grew more than 1.8-fold ($2.49 billion) to $5.54 billion; in December, foreign exchange reserves increased 5.7% ($296.9 million) after declining 2.4% in November and growing 2.4% in October.
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) account for $1.4 billion of the reserves.
In 2024, Belarus's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased 9.8% after decreasing 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 were supposed to be at least $7.1 billion by the end of 2025.
The National Bank sets the task of ensuring reserves at a level of at least $9.2 billion by the end of 2026, taking into account upcoming external public debt payments.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in mid-December that the National Bank should change its reserve management strategy and direct income received from reserve management to finance the modernization of production and supporting export contracts. He also questioned the advisability of further reserve accumulation.
Lukashenko is also concerned that at the global level, foreign exchange reserves formed in dollars may depreciate, and does not rule out that international reserve assets placed outside Belarus may be confiscated.
