Hungary’s international reserves stood at €38.764bn at the end of August, rising €1.21bn from a month earlier and reaching a new all-time high, preliminary data published by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) on Wednesday show.

The rise the second over-1.4bn monthly rise in a row after an almost €900m drop in July when the Hungarian state paid €1.88bn to Russian oil and gas company Surgutneftegas for a 21.2% stake in Hungarian peer MOL.

The end-of September international reserves were up €5.09bn from the end of 2010 and rose €5.088bn in one year.

Hungary’s international reserves reached the previous all-time high of €37.637bn at the end of May this year, boosted by sovereign bond issues worth a combined €4bn between March and May. The spring bond issues matched this year’s foreign expiries, of which a €1bn bond was repaid late June, cutting the reserves accordingly.

Another €1bond is due on October 28, and Hungary will start repaying its IMF-led international loan late autumn, with the first €2bn installment due to the European Union in November.

In dollar terms, Hungary’s international reserves stood at $52.51bn at the end of September, down $1.732bn from a month earlier, but up $7.522bn from the end of last December, and up $6.601bn in one year.