2002-01-08
At the end of December 2001, international reserves made up USD 1,669.2 million.In the course of one month they decreased by USD 94.8 million, or 5.4 percent.
The main reason behind the decrease was the decline of Bank of Lithuania repo transactions with non-residents by USD 144.7 million. The decline in reserves was partly offset by the operations of the central government in foreign exchange and the fact that commercial banks sold to the Bank of Lithuania USD 9.5 million more than they purchased.Reserves were also pushed up by the increased value of gold holdings by USD 4.4 million and net income of the Bank of Lithuania from foreign exchange investment.
In the course of 2001 international reserves went up by USD 310.5 million, or 22.9 percent.Among the main reasons were the rise of central government deposits in foreign exchange at the Bank of Lithuania, an increase of Bank of Lithuania repo transactions with non-residents by USD 51.6 million and the fact that during the year commercial banks sold to the Bank of Lithuania USD 20.5 million than they purchased.