NBS gross FX reserves at 25.031 bln euros at end-February

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) gross FX reserves amounted to 25,031.4 mln euros at end-February 2024, almost unchanged from a month earlier, the central bank said on Monday.

"They inched down by 5.5 mln euros m-o-m, covering 178.6 pct of money supply M1 and 6.7 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) came at 20,806.3 mln euros, up by 125.9 mln euros from end-January," it said in a statement.

"The February inflows came from NBS interventions through net FX purchase in the local FX market (435 mln euros from the settlement of interventions) and FX reserves management, grants and other sources (worth 87.9 mln euros in total).

The decrease in gross FX reserves in February is attributable primarily to the net government debt repayment in respect of FX loans and securities, as well as other FX liabilities in the total amount of 399.0 mln euros. Outflows on other grounds equalled 77.5 mln euros.

Though total inflows exceeded outflows, gross FX reserves decreased because of market factors whose net effect was negative (51.9 mln euros), largely due to the fall in gold price by around 0.3 pct and the dollar’s weakening against the euro by around 0.1 pct in the international market," the NBS also said.