At the end of December 2003, international reserves made up LTL 9,528.3 million (EUR 2,759.6 million, USD 3,449.7 million).

At the end of December 2003, international reserves made up LTL 9,528.3 million (EUR 2,759.6 million, USD 3,449.7 million). In the course of one month they increased by LTL 597.5 million, i.e. by 6.7 per cent. The main reason behind the increase was the operations of the Bank of Lithuania with central government institutions, which pushed the reserves up by LTL 403.0 million. Another source of the increase was the net purchases of foreign exchange from commercial banks of USD 296.9 million. The official reserves were pushed down by LTL 108.3 million by repurchase transactions with non-residents. In the course of 2003 international reserves went up by LTL 1,538.5 million, i.e. 19.3 per cent. The increase was determined by Bank of Lithuania operations with central government institutions resulting in reserve increase of LTL 804.8 million and the net purchase of foreign exchange from commercial banks of LTL 699.7 million. Reserves were also boosted by the increase of commercial bank required reserves in foreign exchange and the net income of the Bank of Lithuania from investment in foreign currencies. The reserves were pushed down by the repurchases of the Bank of Lithuania from the IMF of LTL 175.6 million done in January 2003.