Uzbekistan increases gold exports 

As of December 1, the volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves of Uzbekistan amounted to $32.89 billion, the CB website reports.

During October, the volume of international assets decreased by only $7.5 million. However, gold and foreign exchange reserves remain $2.5 billion below the March figure.

The amount of foreign currency assets amounted to $8.61 billion – one of the lowest figures for the entire period of publication of statistics. Over the past month, foreign currency reserves added $237.9 million, but have remained below $10 billion for seven months in a row.

The volume of deposits of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan in the central banks of other countries, as well as in the IMF, decreased slightly - to $336.1 million. In addition, the amount in accounts in other foreign financial institutions increased by $293.4 million, exceeding $8 billion, but having lost from the beginning more than $2 billion a year.

However, the republic’s gold reserves decreased slightly, amounting to $23.72 billion at the beginning of December. Compared to the previous month, its value lost $246.5 million.

Moreover, the tonnage of gold in reserves decreased by almost 3.5% – 11.6 million troy ounces (360.78 tons) versus 12 million troy ounces (373.23 tons) a month earlier. Sales of physical volumes of gold may be associated with rising prices on the world precious metal market, when the price of gold for the first time in history exceeded $2,100 per ounce, which is why the Central Bank could increase exports.