At the end of March, the gross foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) amounted to around 14.3 billion euros, which is 852.8 million euros more than in February, the NBS announced today.
Foreign exchange reserves at that level provide coverage of the money supply M1 of 141 percent and more than six months of imports of goods and services, which is twice the standard.
At the end of March, net foreign exchange reserves (foreign exchange reserves reduced by banks’ foreign exchange assets on the basis of required reserves and other bases) amounted to around 11.9 billion euros and increased by 879.2 million euros compared to the end of the previous month.
The increase in gross foreign exchange reserves in March is primarily the result of inflows from the issuance of a twelve-year Eurobond of the Republic of Serbia in euros (970.9 million euros), the longest maturity so far, on the international financial market at the end of February.
Net inflows into foreign exchange reserves were also realized on the basis of donations, management of foreign exchange reserves and other bases (a total of 88.1 million euros).
The increase in foreign exchange reserves in March was additionally influenced by the positive effect of market factors in the net amount of 157.4 million euros, the NBS stated.
The volume of realized foreign exchange trade on the interbank foreign exchange market in March amounted to 468 million euros and was 13 million euros lower than in the previous month. In the first three months of this year, a total of 1.5 billion euros was realized in interbank trade.
In March, as well as since the beginning of this year, the value of the dinar against the euro is almost unchanged.
In March, the NBS bought and sold the same amount of foreign exchange on the interbank foreign exchange market, 40 million euros each, and since the beginning of the year, in order to maintain relative stability on the foreign exchange market, it has sold 50 million euros net, Novi Magazin reports.
