ULAN BATOR, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign exchange (forex) reserves rose to 3.4 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2022, Minister of Economy and Development Chimed Khurelbaatar said Wednesday.
"As of Dec. 31, Mongolia's forex reserves reached 3.4 billion dollars. Therefore, our country was able to avoid a big risk of entering into a program with the International Monetary Fund and declaring default," Khurelbaatar told a press conference.
Due to the deepening of a current account deficit caused by external and internal economic conditions, the Central Asian country's forex reserves had shrunk to 2.6 billion dollars at the end of August, hitting the lowest level since 2017, according to the country's central bank.
Mongolia must make sovereign bond payments in the coming two years, Byadran Lkhagvasuren, governor of the central bank, has said, stressing the necessity to increase the forex reserves as Mongolia will have to repay sovereign debts worth 1.3 billion dollars in 2023 alone.
The country's forex reserves stood at 4.9 billion dollars at the end of April 2021, hitting an all-time high. ■
