ULAN BATOR, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's central bank said Wednesday that it purchased a total of 9.7 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in the first seven months of this year.
As of July, the bank's average gold purchase price had been 185,224.93 Mongolian tugriks (58 U.S. dollars) per gram, the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement.
Purchasing gold is one of the key ways for the central bank to ensure the country's economic stability by consistently increasing foreign currency reserves, said the bank.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, Mongolia's forex reserves fell to 2.8 billion dollars in July, down by 1.7 billion dollars from the beginning of this year, according to the central bank.
Central banks across the world typically hold gold as part of their foreign exchange reserves.
The Mongolian central bank plans to purchase at least 24 tons of gold in 2022 to increase the country's forex reserves. ■
