DUSHANBE, May 14, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- As of May 1, 2013, Tajikistan’s gold and currency reserves amounted to 950 million U.S. dollars, 22 million U.S. dollars less than by the beginning of this year, according to the National Bank of Tajikistan.

Specialists from Tajik central bank attribute decrease in the country’s gold and currency reserves to the fall in the international gold prices.

As of May 13, the price of troy ounce (31.103 grams) of gold was 1,472.2 USD.  On April 15, the price of troy ounce of gold fell from 1,476.1 USD to 1,358.4 USD.  Meanwhile, at the beginning of the year, the price of one troy ounce of gold was 1,660 USD.

“Some 13 tons of gold are now held by the state reserve,” said an official source at Tajik central bank.  “Last year, NBT purchased some 1.1 tons of gold from domestic producers for replenishment of the reserves.”

Tajikistan’s gold and currency reserves are kept both at the country’s central bank and at banks in Europe (Switzerland and Germany) and the United States.