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exports agricultural products to 92 countries. The Agriculture and Food Ministry is working to gradually reduce the share of the Russian market. “In 2017 Russia accounted for 86% of the export of our products. In January-September 2018 the share dropped to 79%,” the minister said. Deliveries to the CIS states increased by 11.2% from January-September 2017, with non-CIS sales up by 8.5%. The export of Belarusian agricultural products to China increased 4.1-fold this year in January-September compared with the same period a year earlier.
5.2.4 Gross international reserves
The National Bank of Belarus plans to maintain the gold and foreign currency reserves in 2019 at the current level , Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Pavel Kallaur told the media on 26 November, BelTA has learned. “We are set to keep the gold and foreign currency reserves at the level enough to cover for two months of imports. In absolute terms, they should make $7.1bn,” Pavel Kallaur said. According to the preliminary data, Belarus' gold and foreign currency reserves totalled $7,107.6mn as of 1 November 2018. In October 2018, the country's gold and foreign currency reserves went up by $181.3mn (up 2.6%) following the September reduction by $320mn (4.4%). In October 2018 Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves were bolstered thanks to the budget revenues, including export duties on oil and oil products, the tranche of the loan from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development, and revenues from selling government bonds nominated in foreign currency by the central bank and the Finance Ministry, the purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank via the Belarusian Currency Stock Exchange. The country's gold and foreign exchange reserves also strengthened due to an increase in the cost of the monetary gold. According to the country's main monetary guidelines for 2018 the volume of international reserve assets, taking into account the honoring of domestic and foreign commitments in foreign currency should reach at least $6bn on 1 January 2019.
The amount of remittances sent home to Belarus by workers abroad fell by 12.1% in the third quarter of this year y/y the National Bank of Belarus said on November 8. Belarusian residents received $72.6mn in remittances from abroad in the third quarter by international money transfer systems compared to $82.6mn in the same period a year earlier. Going in the other direction, Belarusian residents sent $45.4mn abroad in the same period, which was virtually the same amount as in the same period a year prior, reports BelTA. The average size of the money transfer arriving in Belarus was $269.82 which is down slightly from last year’s average of $305.51. The average size of transfers leaving the country was $393.18, almost the same as last year’s average of $396.79. The data includes money sent through international money transfer services such as Western Union, Unistream, KoronaPay, MoneyGram, BLIZKO, Contact, Kolibri, Faster, Ria Money Transfer.
18 BELARUS Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com