Uzbekistan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves drop to $32.6 billion

Uzbekistan’s international reserves are shrinking due to the declining gold price. According to the Central Bank, as of March 1, reserves amounted to $32.6 billion, which is $0.6 billion less than in March.

Gold continues to fall in price, it now costs $1,744 per ounce. For comparison, in the summer of 2020, the price of gold reached $2,000.

The metal itself in reserves increased by almost 6 tons – from 11.2 million troy ounces (348 tons) to 11.4 million (354 tons).

It was planned to diversify the composition of reserves by purchasing US Treasury bonds, but for several years nothing has been heard about this.

It should be noted that reserves are considered the country’s “safety cushion” and are needed in case of adverse external shocks. And the adequacy of reserves directly depends on the nature of these shocks.

The current reserves will be enough to finance more than 20 months of imports. This is considerably more than the indicator recommended by international organizations for developing countries, which is three months.