Mongolia’s central bank purchased a total of 19.9 tonnes of gold in the first 11 months of this year from legal entities and individuals.

As of November, the Bank of Mongolia’s average gold purchase price had been 197,545 Mongolian tugriks (57.7 U.S. dollars) per gram.

Purchasing gold is one of the key ways for the central bank to ensure the country’s economic stability by consistently increasing foreign currency reserves, said the bank.

Mongolia’s foreign exchange reserves fell to 2.8 billion dollars at the end of October, down 36 percent from the beginning of this year, the bank said.

Central banks across the world typically hold gold as part of their foreign exchange reserves. The Mongolian central bank has set a goal to purchase at least 24 tonnes of gold in 2022 to increase the country’s foreign exchange reserves.