Belarus's International Reserves Swell by $1.28bn in a Month Thanks to Gold
Belarus has once again set a new record for its international reserve assets. According to the National Bank, the state’s war chest grew by $1.28 billion in January. Judging by the financial regulator’s report, the nearly 9% monthly increase was driven by monetary gold.
According to official data from the National Bank of Belarus, the country’s reserve assets stood at $15.7 billion on 1 February. A year earlier, as of 1 February 2025, this figure was just $9.3 billion, meaning Belarus has managed to increase the volume of its gold and foreign exchange reserves by almost 69% over the past 12 months.
Based on the National Bank’s official data, last month’s increase was underpinned by monetary gold. As is known, gold continued to break price records at the start of this year. At the end of January 2026, the gold price surpassed its all-time high, exceeding $5,600 per troy ounce on the Comex exchange. Furthermore, the global production of this precious metal itself reached a historical peak of 3.67 thousand tonnes in 2025.
Consequently, the value of monetary gold within Belarus’s international reserves rose by $1.16 billion in January, reaching $8.63 billion.
Reserve assets in foreign currency, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and a weakening US dollar on global markets, saw a less substantial increase. Nonetheless, Belarus also added $100.6 million in this component of its reserves over the month, bringing it to $5.64 billion.
Recall that earlier, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, commented on the record growth of the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves and demanded that the National Bank «not become complacent» and «reconfigure» the strategy for managing the nation’s international reserve assets.