BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 22
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
Uzbekistan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves fell for the first time since April due to gold, as the gold reserves have decreased by almost $2 billion, Trend reports with reference to the Central bank.
The volume of gross foreign exchange reserves of Uzbekistan as of September 1 amounted to $34.6 billion, having decreased by $153.9 million compared to last month, follows from the data of the Central Bank.
Net gold and foreign exchange reserves (the difference between gross reserves and liabilities in hard currency) also decreased by $105.4 million and reached $33.8 billion.
The country's reserves are very poorly diversified. Almost everything is stored in the form of gold ($18.8 billion) and foreign currency ($15.4 billion). It is planned to solve this problem by purchasing US Treasury bonds.
Uzbekistan is actively selling gold in a pandemic. From January through August gold reserves fell by almost $6 billion, which is more than in the whole of 2019. For this reason, gold already accounts for 50 percent of all exports.
In addition, the price of gold is falling and one ounce is already worth $1,921, although at the beginning of August its worth amounted to $2,000.
The current reserves will be enough to finance more than 20 months of imports. This is much more than the indicator recommended by international organizations for developing countries, which is three months.
Earlier it was reported that from January through August 2020, Uzbekistan increased gold exports by 47.2 percent or $1.86 billion compared to the same period last year.
Over the period under review, precious metals were sold abroad for $5.8 billion.
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