Gross FX Reserves Cover More Than Six Months' Worth of Imports of Goods and Services

At end-June, gross NBS FX reserves stood at EUR 14 billion, whereas net FX reserves came at EUR 11.8 billion at end-June, the Serbian central bank announced.

In the past year, relative to end-June 2019, gross FX reserves increased by EUR 1.8 billion, whereby the pillar of the stability of the domestic financial system has been additionally reinforced.

– FX reserves cover 147% of money supply M1 and more than six months’ worth of the country’s imports of goods and services, twice more than the standard on the adequate level of coverage of the imports of goods and services by FX reserves – the press release says.

At end-June, gross FX reserves were lower by EUR 388.3 million compared to the end of the previous month, reflecting the NBS activity in the domestic FX market undertaken to mitigate the effects of the corona crisis on the domestic economy (the total effect in respect of the net sale of foreign exchange and swap auctions was –EUR 273 million) and government net debt repayment under FX loans and securities of EUR 127.4 million.

The net inflows into FX reserves during June in respect of efficient FX reserves management, donations and other grounds (EUR 51.5 million in total) were more than sufficient to cover net outflows on other grounds (EUR 19.7 million) and to fully compensate for the negative net market effect (EUR 19.7 million).

The volume of FX trading in the IFEM amounted to EUR 582.8 million in June, up by EUR 132 million from the month before. In the first half of the year, interbank trading totaled EUR 3,436.2 million. In June, as since the beginning of the year, the value of the dinar remained almost unchanged vis-à-vis the euro.

– By responding in the FX market in a timely and adequate manner, the NBS successfully maintained stability in the domestic FX market. As a result, the trust of international investors was restored and the need to intervene in June was much lower than in April and May – the press release says.

In June, the NBS sold EUR 155 million net in the IFEM.

Since the start of the year, it sold EUR 1,030 million net, the press release says.

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

NBS

gross FX reserves

FX reserves

M1 money supply coverage

M1 money supply

coronavirus crisis

net FX inflow

swap auctions