Belarus Gold, Currency Reserves Fall to Lowest in 20 Months

Belarus’s gold and foreign-currency reserves declined in May to their lowest level since August 2009 after the ruble lost more than a third of its value against the dollar.

Reserves fell $200.4 million to $3.59 billion, the Minsk-based regulator said today in a statement on its website, citing calculations under International Monetary Fund standards. The decline “is linked to the national bank’s and the government of Belarus’s external and internal operations in foreign currency,” the bank said.