BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 9
Trend:
The volume of gross gold and foreign exchange reserves of Uzbekistan has grown as of June 1, the Central Bank of the country (CBU) said, Trend reports referring to Gazeta.uz.
According to the CBU, this indicator amounted to $35.5 billion, having risen by $1.3 billion over the month.
The previous record level was noted at the end of 2020 - as of December 1, when the CBU's reserves reached $34.9 billion. However, afterwards it began to decline due to the fall in the price of gold.
Since April, the precious metal’s price has begun to rebound. So, as of late March, the price of gold was below $1,700, whilst by late May its price exceeded $1,900. In June, it began falling in price to make up $1,893.
The volume of gold in the structure of gold and foreign exchange reserves has been growing since September 2020 - from 9.6 to 11.7 million troy ounces, but in May 2021 gold reserves decreased by 400,000 troy ounces (about 12.4 tons). This may indicate a possible sale of the precious metal by the Central Bank. The regulator could take advantage of the market situation and sell gold at a favorable price.
Earlier, the head of the Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuratov stated that expensive gold during the COVID-19 pandemic brought the country's economy an additional 24 trillion soum ($2.3 billion).
The last time gold was sold by Uzbekistan in the amount of $2,069 in August 2020, when the highest exchange price for gold in the entire history of the respective statistics was recorded.
In May 2021, the value of reserves in gold and foreign currency rose by $745.7 million and $579 million, respectively.