The official foreign reserves vaulted to a new record of 4.77 million USD at the end of March 2021, 220 million USD higher than the previous record set in December 2020, Mongol Bank reported on Monday.

Foreign reserves has risen by 5.8 percent month-on-month and 16.6 percent year-on-year. The current amount can cover up to nine months of normal imports, according to the central bank. 

Foreign currency reserves, or reserves held in foreign currencies, stood at 4.1 billion USD, up by 3.7 percent from the previous month.

As of March 2021, the balance of all deposit accounts grew by 28.7 percent to 18.5 trillion MNT. Of this amount, 4.4 billion USD or 23.5 percent of total deposits is deposit accounts held in foreign currency.

Mongol Bank has been offering discounted loans to gold producers to increase foreign reserves. The stable exchange rate of the tugrug, the stable sovereign credit rating, and settlement of medium-term foreign debt repayment attributed to the growth in foreign reserves, explained Mongol Bank.