Uzbekistan gross gold and foreign exchange reserves of as of June 1 topped US$ 35.5 billion, recording US$ 1.3 billion increase over the month, the Central Bank said in a report. This is the highest figure in Uzbekistan’s entire history of gold and foreign exchange statistics.
The previous record figure was at the end of 2020 - as of December 1, the Central Bank's reserves reached US$ 34.9 billion. But after that, they began to decline due to the fall in the price of gold.
But since April, gold’s price began to rise again, which resulted in an increase in the gold and foreign exchange reserves. If by the end of March gold was worth less than US$ 1,700, then by the end of May it surpassed the US$ 1,900mark. In June, it began to fall in price and at the time of publication was trading at US$ 1,893.
The volume of gold in the structure of gold and foreign exchange reserves has been growing since September - from 9.6 to 11.7 million troy ounces, but in May gold in reserves decreased by 0.4 million troy ounces (about 12.4 tons). This may indicate a possible sale of the precious metal by the Central Bank. The regulator could take advantage of the market situation and sell gold at a favorable price. Earlier, the head of the Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuratov reported that expensive gold during the pandemic brought the country's economy an additional 24 trillion soums.
Uzbekistan last sold gold in August, when the gold hit highest price ever at US$ 2,069.5.
The value of reserves in gold increased by US$ 745.7 million, in foreign currency - by US$ 579 million.
