ULAN BATOR, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's central bank announced on Friday that it has bought a total of 15.2 tons of gold from legal entities and individuals in 2019, down by 30 percent from the previous year.
"A 2.5 percent of discounted royalty on gold mining ended on Jan. 1, 2019 after which 5 to 10 percent royalty taxes on gold mining were imposed on miners. The significant decline was directly related to the expiration of the discounted royalty fee," the Bank of Mongolia said in a statement.
Purchasing gold is said to be one of the key instruments for the Asian country's central bank to increase its official foreign exchange (forex) reserves.
The Bank of Mongolia has been striving to ensure economic stability by consistently increasing its foreign currency reserves.
The country's forex reserves amounted to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars at the end of last year.
