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Belarus' international reserves said to have increased by $496.7 million in March

Belarus' international reserves increased by $496.7 million, or 8.9 percent, in March to $6,073.9 million, said the National Bank of Belarus (NBB), BelaPAN reports.

The calculations were reportedly made according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Special Data Dissemination Standard. The reserves increased by $421.4 million, or 7.5 percent, in the first three months, said the NBB. The reserves would have decreased by about $170 million in March if it had not been for $670 million received in the last tranche of an IMF loan at the end of the month.

Pyotr Prakapovich, head of the National Bank, said in a report that it was necessary to work more actively to increase Belarus' gold and foreign exchange reserves to at least $10 billion before the end of the year.