Page 19 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Belarus Dec17

5.2.2 Current account dynamics
5.2.3 Gross international reserves
The foreign exchange reserves of Belarus increased by $128.6mn or 1.8% month-on-month to $7.395bn in September , following the 3.9% m/m growth in October and 25.2% m/m jump in June, the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) said in a statement on November 4.
The result was attributed to September's disbursement of a new $200mn tranche from the Russian government, as well as revenues from the collection of export duties on oil products. The placement of forex-denominated bonds by the NBB, as well purchase of forex at the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange.
According to official data, the external state debt of Belarus totalled $16.3bn as of October 1, up by $2.7bn or 19.5% from early January.
In October, S&P Global Ratings said in a note that NBB has FX obligations to domestic banks of about $2bn and a government FX deposit of around $4bn, underpinned by a recent bond issuance. The government will draw on its deposits with NBB to meet the Eurobond $800mn payment in January.
"Beyond that, we believe the government may not be able to deploy its resources at the NBRB in full, given the necessity to maintain a balance of payments buffer," the agency added. "We also note that in addition to the obligations highlighted above, NBB has external debt of around $1.4bn booked on its balance sheet."
Fitch underlined that continued support from Russia remains central to Belarus' ability to service its commercial debt.
19 BELARUS Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com