OREANDA-NEWS. The volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves of the Republic of Belarus on the IMF's SDDS definition decreased by USD 760.8 million as at the end of December 2014 and amounted, according to the preliminary data, to USD 5,059.1 million in the equivalent as of January 1, 2015.

The volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves on the national definition decreased by USD 691.6 million, totaling USD 5,716.0 million in the equivalent as of January 1, 2015.

The decrease in the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves in December 2014 was conditioned by the repayment by the Government and the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus of their external and internal foreign exchange obligations in full, as well as by negative balance of the National Bank's trade in foreign exchange at the JSC "Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange".

Repayment of the obligations of the National Bank, as well as the increase in the price for gold in the international precious metals market were conducive to maintaining the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves.