Belarus’s international reserves, which include gold a foreign currency, rose by $1.054 billion or 14.2 percent in August and amounted to $8.497 billion as of September 1, the National Bank said.

In July 2021, gold and foreign exchange reserves rose by $33 million after decreasing by $354 million in June.

“The growth in gold and foreign exchange reserves in August was mainly due to the distribution of special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund, the purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank at the auctions … as well as the receipt of foreign currency in the budget,” the bank said in a statement.

According to the main directions of monetary policy for 2021, the volume of international reserve assets should be at least $6 billion by the end of this year.