National Bank of Serbia reports June foreign exchange reserves at EUR 29.6 billion as gold holdings reach record

The National Bank of Serbia reported that gross foreign exchange reserves stood at EUR 29.6089 billion at the end of June 2026, down EUR 273.2 million from the end of May, while net reserves fell EUR 362.8 million to EUR 25.0560 billion. Despite the monthly decline, reserves covered 164.3% of the M1 money supply and 6.8 months of imports of goods and services, which the central bank said was more than double the standard used to assess adequate import cover. June inflows came mainly from domestic foreign exchange market interventions, with net foreign currency purchases of EUR 270.0 million contributing to reserves, alongside net allocations of banks’ foreign currency required reserves of EUR 255.1 million and EUR 88.4 million from reserve management, donations and other sources. These inflows more than offset EUR 411.8 million of state foreign currency debt repayments, but reserves were reduced by net negative market effects of EUR 474.9 million. The valuation loss was driven mainly by an about 11.4% fall in the USD gold price, partly offset by a 2.2% strengthening of the USD against the EUR. Gold reserves reached a record 54,565.2 kilograms after the purchase of 20 gold bars, or 250.9 kilograms, on the domestic market from Serbia Zijin Copper. Their value nevertheless fell by EUR 617.7 million in June to EUR 6.2004 billion, equal to 20.9% of gross reserves, because of market movements. On the interbank foreign exchange market, the National Bank of Serbia was a net buyer of EUR 405.0 million in June, while the dinar was almost unchanged against the euro during the month and had weakened 0.1% against the euro over the first six months of 2026.