NBS FX reserves at record-high 27.5 bln euros at end-June

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) gross FX reserves reached 27,506.5 mln euros at end-June, their highest level since monitoring began in 2000, the NBS said on Wednesday.

The reserves rose by 2,349.4 mln euros from the previous month, it said in a statement.

"They covered 178.7 pct of money supply M1 and 7.3 months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and services, which is more than twice the level prescribed by the adequacy standard.

Net FX reserves (gross FX reserves less banks’ FX balances on account of required reserves, liabilities to the IMF under the arrangement, and other grounds) also came at a record high – 23,270.3 mln euros, up by 2,298.2 mln euros from end-May.

The key boost to FX reserves in June (in the equivalent of 1,365.7 mln euros) came from the issue of 10-year dollar-denominated sustainability bonds of the Republic of Serbia in the international financial market.

Inflows also came from the NBS’s FX purchases in the local FX market (530.0 mln euros), FX loans (223.3 mln euros net) and FX reserves management, grants and other sources (156.6 mln euros in total)," the central bank said.

"These inflows were more than sufficient to cover the outflows on account of the settlement of government FX loan and other liabilities (88.1 mln euros in total).

FX reserves were propped up also by the positive net effect of market factors worth 161.9 mln euros, mainly reflecting the dollar’s strengthening against the euro by around 1.3 pct, while the decline in the price of gold in the international market by around 0.7 pct worked in the opposite direction," it also said.