Boosted by the international sale of its 12-year old bonds early this month, the gold and foreign- currency reserves held by South Africa has risen by 5.3 per cent at end January over the previous month, its most in almost two years, data from the Reserve Bank showed on Tuesday.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the Pretoria-based bank said the country's net gold and foreign exchange reserves jumped to $49.072 billion in January from $47.867 billion in December. Gross reserves spiked to $51.451 billion from $48.86 billion a month ago.

"The increase in gross reserves was primarily due to the proceeds of the recent $1.5-billion government international bond issue which were deposited with the bank," the central bank said.

In a statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the central bank said South Africa sold its 12-year bonds on Jan. 9 to gather funds to help repay maturing debt as well as to be used for other general purposes. The bonds, with a coupon of 4.665 per cent, attracted a lot of investors, mainly from the United States and Europe. It generated a total amount of bids worth $3 billion, according to Bloomberg News.

Moreover, the firmer prices of the precious yellow metal gold and a weaker priced U.S. dollar around the world during January helped increase South African reserves. The dollar slid against all 16 major currencies, according to Bloomberg calculations in January.

Gold reserves grew by $719 million to $6.99 billion in January. Special Drawing Rights holdings likewise grew $30 million to $2.76 billion. South Africa's reserves of the yellow metal account for 14 per cent of its gross holdings at the central bank, the Reserve Bank said. Gold prices in the global market rose 11 per cent to as high as $1,739.07 per ounce.

South Africa's foreign exchange reserves as of January reached $41.69 billion compared to $39.85 billion in the previous month. International liquidity position also increased by $1.2 billion to $49.07 billion.

Meanwhile, the gross foreign-currency and gold reserves of Belarus and Kazakhstan likewise grew in January.

The international currency and gold reserves of Belarus improved 0.7 per cent to $7.968 billion as of Feb. 1, from a month earlier, data from the country's central bank showed.

"The growth of foreign-currency and gold reserves in January 2012 was facilitated by the increase of gold prices in the international precious metals market, as well as by the positive balance of sales and purchases of foreign currency at the Belarusian Currency and Stock Exchange," the Natsionalnyi Bank Respubliki Belarus said on its Web site.

Kazakhstan's gross international currency and gold reserves jumped 13 per cent to $33.2 billion in January from December, a statement issued by its central bank posted on its Web site said, noting Kazakhstan's oil fund assets grew 4.2 per cent to $45.5 billion in January.