National Bank Was a Net Buyer of Foreign Currency in December, an Unusual Development

The National Bank was a net buyer of foreign currency in December, First Deputy Chairman of the Board Alyaksandr Yagorau reported. According to him, this is not typical.

“One of the most important factors throughout the year has been the National Bank’s net purchase of foreign currency. Moreover, even in December, for the first time in the last five years of observations, the National Bank acted as a net buyer of foreign currency.

Traditionally, of course, in December importers purchase a large volume of currency. This is linked in part to major holidays in January in Russia, requiring advance payment for goods, and it is also related to the completion of investment projects and final settlements for investment imports. Nevertheless, in December we observed such an atypical situation for this month in terms of the National Bank’s net purchase of currency,” he said, commenting on the factors behind the growth of Belarus’s gold and foreign currency reserves.

Earlier this week, the National Bank reported that the country’s international reserves exceeded USD 14.4 billion. In December they increased by USD 526.1 million, of which USD 296.9 million came from an increase in foreign currency reserves. Over the past year, reserves grew by USD 5.5 billion, including a USD 2.95 billion increase in the value of monetary gold and a USD 2.49 billion increase in foreign currency assets.

According to Yagorau, even without the significant rise in gold prices last year, the country’s reserves would still have increased.

“Even without taking gold price increases into account, we would have had around USD 11.5 billion, which, in our view, is also a very good indicator. Yes, it would not have been the more than three months of import coverage that we have now. But investments in gold are also a long-term strategy of the National Bank, which began to be implemented in the mid-2000s. And now we see the result, which allows us to speak about the successes of our economy,” he added.

It should be noted that by the end of 2025 the size of the reserves doubled the monetary policy target of USD 7.1 billion. By the end of 2026, reserves are expected to amount to at least USD 9.2 billion.