Uzbekistan's foreign exchange reserves dropped by nearly $2.4 billion since start of year

As of March 1, the volume of Uzbekistan's foreign exchange reserves amounted to $32.19 billion, according to the Central Bank's website.

In January and February, the volume of international reserves decreased by $2.36 billion, with reserves reducing by more than $1 billion for two consecutive months.

The amount of currency assets stood at $7.54 billion, remaining at one of the lowest levels in recent years. Since the beginning of the year, their amount has decreased by $1.82 billion — with it consistently being below $10 billion for ten months in a row.

The volume of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan's deposits in the central banks of other countries, as well as in the IMF, significantly reduced to $388.7 million. Additionally, the sum in accounts in other foreign financial institutions decreased by $1.64 billion, dropping below $8 billion.

The republic's gold reserves decreased marginally, totaling $24.09 billion at the beginning of March. Compared to January, its value decreased by $535.4 million.

Furthermore, the gold tonnage in reserves remained unchanged at 11.9 million troy ounces (370 tons) — although in January it accounted for 12.2 million troy ounces (379.3 tons).

In January, Uzbekistan's export volume halved. In the absence of gold sales, the size of the negative trade balance doubled to almost $2 billion.