OREANDA-NEWS. March 11, 2008. In January-February 2008, Belarus’ international reserve assets increased by $453.9 million, or 9%, to $5446.6 million. Last month they increased by 10.5%.

Hard currency reserves account for the greatest share of the international reserve assets of Belarus ($4349.7 million, or 79.9%) and precious metals and gems ($1010.2 million, or 18.5%). Over the past two months they increased by 7.1% and 19.3% respectively. Other assets account for $86.8 million, or 1.6%.

In January-February, 2008, Belarus’ international reserve assets calculated following the IMF methods increased by $170.7 million, or by 4%, to $4352.9 million. In February they increased by 4.9%. A reminder, according to International Monetary Fund, the Belarusian international reserves are defined as marketable foreign assets, which consist of monetary gold, special drawing rights, the country’s reserve position in the IMF and currency reserves. The reserve assets can be used quickly for money market interventions in order to stabilize the exchange rate of the national currency, for the government to finance import of goods and services, for paying and servicing the foreign national debt and for other purposes.

In 2007, the Belarusian international reserve assets calculated using national terms spurred 3 times, to total $4992.7 million.

In line with the monetary policy guidelines of the Republic of Belarus in 2008, the international reserve assets are projected to grow by at least $280 million. Provided the country attracts $2.5 billion of direct foreign investment, the gold and currency reserves are prognosticated to go up by $2.2 billion.

By 2010, Belarus plans to grow its international reserve assets up to $10 billion.