(Bloomberg) --
Serbia needs to further increase its gold reserves even after recent purchases pushed its stash to a record, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday, saying the Balkan nation has to fortify itself against a looming economic crisis.
The biggest former Yugoslav republic added nine tons of the precious metal in October to increase its stockpile to more than 30 tons, heeding Vucic's advice. Serbia followed Hungary and Poland in boosting gold reserves to create an economic bulwark.
“I think we'll continue doing that because of what we see in which direction the crisis in the world is moving,” Vucic told reporters in Belgrade on Tuesday. He cited slowing growth in the euro area, Serbia's top trading partner and main sources of investment.
Central bank Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said that Serbia paid about $434 million for the gold it bought last month, or $1,503 an ounce, raising its holdings to 10% of total reserves. It was the latest in a series of moves by the country to shore up financial stability, including through changes of the structure of its foreign debt and increasing the share of dinars and euros.
To contact the reporter on this story: Misha Savic in Belgrade at msavic2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Irina Vilcu at isavu@bloomberg.net, Balazs Penz, Michael Winfrey
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