Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan plans to reduce the proportion of gold in its foreign currency reserves and buy U.S. Treasuries instead, the country’s finance minister Jamshid Kuchkarov said on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Uzbekistan’s foreign currency reserves stood at $26.4 billion as of December, according to central bank data.

“From the beginning of this year the central bank is going to diversify how it manages its reserves, and they are going to buy some U.S. Treasuries,” Kuchkarov told Reuters during a visit to London.

 “Roughly half of our reserves are gold, because we are gold producers,” deputy central bank governor Temur Ishmetov said. “We are planning gradually to reduce the share of the gold in our reserves and add U.S. Treasuries.”