OREANDA-NEWS. June 10, 2008.  In January-May 2008 Belarus’ gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by \\$358.2 million (7.1%) to a total of \\$5,350.9 million. The figure increased by 0.8% last month alone.

Hard currency accounts for the greatest share of the international reserve assets of Belarus (\\$4321.2 million or 80.8%) along with precious metals and gems (\\$938.7 million or 17.5%). Over the past five months the hard currency gained 6.4% while the precious metals and gems swelled by 10.8%. Other assets amount to \\$91 million or 1.7%.

In January-May 2008 Belarus’ international reserve assets calculated using IMF methods increased by \\$280.7 million (6.7%) to \\$4,462.9 million. In May the figure shrank by 0.8%. In line with the methods used by the International Monetary Fund, Belarus’ international reserves are defined as marketable foreign assets, which consist of monetary gold, special drawing rights, the country’s reserve position in the IMF and currency reserves. The reserve assets can be quickly used for money market interventions in order to stabilize the exchange rate of the national currency, for the government to finance the import of goods and services, for paying and servicing the foreign national debt and for other purposes.

In 2007 the Belarusian international reserve assets calculated using national terms went up almost 3 times to total \\$4,992.7 million.

The NBRB plans to reach the annual forecast of gold and foreign currency reserves (\\$5.5 billion) in July. By 2010 Belarus plans to increase its international reserve assets to \\$10 billion.