Central Bank reserves continue growing

The volume of gold and currency reserves amounted to $52.7bn as of February 21. So it increased by $1.3bn over the previous week. This was the highest advance since July 1998, when gold and foreign currency reserves went up by $5.6bn over one week, however that growth was due to an IMF credit. The current gain in the reserves was due to the Central Bank's massive purchases of dollars from commercial banks. The reserves have been growing since January 3, 2003. On the whole the reserves have added $5bn, one half of this sum has been accumulated over the past two weeks.

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