The gross foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) reached a record level of €29.294 billion at the end of December 2024, the NBS announced.
Compared to the end of November, reserves increased by €589.9 million, and compared to the end of the previous year, they rose by €4.385 billion. This level of reserves provides coverage for the M1 money supply at 167.2% and covers 7.4 months of imports of goods and services.
This figure, the NBS notes, is more than double the standard for determining an adequate level of foreign exchange reserves to cover imports of goods and services.
Net foreign exchange reserves (gross reserves minus the foreign currency holdings of banks based on mandatory reserves, obligations to the International Monetary Fund under arrangements, and other liabilities) amounted to €24.69 billion at the end of December, also reaching an all-time high for month-end levels.
Compared to the end of November, net reserves increased by €236.4 million, and compared to the end of 2023, they rose by €3.908 billion.
The largest inflows into foreign exchange reserves in December came from the allocation of banks’ foreign currency mandatory reserves, amounting to a net €378 million (a higher allocation amount is customary at the end of the year), as well as from the NBS’s interventions on the domestic foreign exchange market, where it purchased €355 million.
Net inflows were also recorded from the management of foreign exchange reserves, donations, and other sources, totaling €84.4 million.
The increase in foreign exchange reserves was also influenced by a positive net effect of market factors amounting to €111.7 million, primarily resulting from the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the euro by approximately 1.6% on the international market.
The report concludes that the growth of gross foreign exchange reserves in 2024 was largely driven by inflows from the NBS’s interventions on the domestic foreign exchange market, with net purchases amounting to €2.715 billion.