The National Bank of Ukraine does not support the initiative to include cryptocurrencies in the state’s international reserves. This was stated by the first Deputy head of the NBU Serhiy Mykolaychuk in an interview with the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“Consultations with the NBU on this bill was not held, and in our opinion such changes would be premature. We do not plan to include virtual assets in international reserves,” Nikolaychuk emphasized.
He explained the regulator’s position with three main arguments:
1) The high risk level of crypto-assets, which are unable to ensure the reliability of reserves.
2) Lack of a uniform legislative definition of cryptocurrencies, which makes their inclusion risky in terms of legal certainty.
3) Impact on Ukraine’s European integration, as the European Central Bank considers it unacceptable to include cryptoassets in the reserves of EU central banks.
Ukraine’s international reserves in August, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), increased by 13.7%, or by $5 billion 98.6 million – to $42 billion 330.5 million.
“Such dynamics is due to significant volumes of receipts from international partners, which exceeded the net sale of foreign currency by the National Bank and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency,” the central bank said in a statement on its website on Friday evening.
At the same time, the NBU’s net international reserves in August even slightly decreased – by $2 million – to $23.301 billion.
According to the Quantitative Performance Criterion (QPC) in the updated EFF Extended Funding Facility, Ukraine’s NIRRs should be at least $28.8 billion at the end of September this year and at least $26.3 billion at the end of the year.
According to the published information, the National Bank sold on the foreign exchange market $2.696 billion and bought back into reserves $0.3 million, the net sale of foreign currency by the NBU in August decreased from $3.05 billion to $2.696 billion.
It is noted that the government’s foreign currency accounts in the National Bank received $8.465 billion, of which $4.553 billion from the EU within the framework of the Ukraine Facility and $3.89 billion through the World Bank.
For servicing and repayment of the state debt in foreign currency, $724.1 million was paid, of which $266.0 million – servicing and repayment of debt to the World Bank; $239.9 million – payments related to the restructuring of Eurobonds, $130.1 million – payments on state derivatives and $88.1 million – payments to other international creditors.
In addition, Ukraine paid $392.4 million to the International Monetary Fund.
“In August, due to revaluation, the value of financial instruments increased by $443 million. The current volume of international reserves provides financing for 5.4 months of future imports,” the regulator stated in a release.
Ukraine’s international reserves in February, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), decreased by 3.8%, or by $1.47 billion – to $37.052 billion.
“Such dynamics is due to the NBU’s currency interventions to maintain exchange rate stability and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency, which were partially offset by receipts from international partners,” the NBU explained on its website on Wednesday.
Among other factors determining the volume of reserves, the NBU named operations in the foreign exchange market: in February, the regulator’s net sale of foreign currency amounted to $1.51 billion, which is 1.4 times less than in the previous month.
The National Bank noted that in February, $1.34 billion was transferred to the account of the Cabinet of Ministers in the NBU, while $1.13 billion was paid for servicing and repayment of state debt.
The central bank also indicated that the current volume of reserves was positively affected by the revaluation of the value of financial instruments, adding $199.5 million.
“The current volume of international reserves provides funding for 4.9 months of future imports,” the regulator stated.
As reported, the NBU in January lowered the forecast of Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of 2024g to $40.4 billion from $44.7 billion and to $42.1 billion from $45 billion at the end of 2025. For more details on the economy in Ukraine and around the world, see the video from the analytical project Experts Club – https://youtu.be/byJnfmie7bM?si=nWnf5J2CUrqaXF-j
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According to preliminary estimates by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), Ukraine’s international reserves decreased by 4.9%, or UAH 1.98 billion, to $38.525 billion in January. “This dynamics is due to the NBU’s foreign exchange interventions to maintain exchange rate stability, the country’s debt payments in foreign currency, and lower international aid inflows compared to previous months,” the NBU explained on its website on Tuesday.
Among other factors that determine the amount of reserves, the NBU cited operations in the foreign exchange market: in January, the regulator’s net sale of foreign currency amounted to $2.53 million, which is 29% less than the previous month.
The regulator noted that in January, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred $898.9 million to the NBU account, and paid $441.6 million for servicing and repaying the public debt.
The NBU also pointed out that the current volume of reserves was positively affected by the revaluation of financial instruments, adding $86.3 million.
“The current volume of international reserves provides financing for 5.1 months of future imports,” the central bank stated.
As reported, in January, the NBU lowered its forecast for Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of 2024 to $40.4 billion from $44.7 billion and to $42.1 billion from $45 billion at the end of 2025.
Ukraine’s international reserves, according to preliminary data, increased by $1 billion 722.7 million, or 4.4%, in December after four months of decline to reach $40 billion 507.9 million, the second highest level in history after July 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Friday.
“They grew by 4.4% compared to November due to foreign exchange earnings from international partners, which exceeded the NBU’s net sale of foreign currency and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency,” the central bank explained the rapid growth of reserves.
It is specified that in general, in 2023, Ukraine’s international reserves increased by 42%, or $12.01 billion.
Net international reserves increased by $1 billion 167.5 million, or 4.3%, in December, and in general, over the past year, their growth was 54.9%, or $10.05 billion.
The National Bank noted that in December it sold $3 billion 559.1 million in the foreign exchange market and bought back $6.1 million in reserves, so its net sales amounted to $3.553 billion, up 1.4 times compared to November and slightly higher than in October ($3.34 billion).
“The growth of the NBU’s interventions in foreign currency sales last month was primarily due to the seasonal factor, in particular, due to increased budget spending at the end of the year,” the regulator said in a release.
At the same time, the government’s foreign currency accounts at the NBU received $5 billion 546.4 million last month, while $708.2 million was paid as part of the servicing and repayment of the public debt in foreign currency.
In addition, the value of financial instruments increased by $426.7 million as a result of revaluation in December.
“The current amount of international reserves provides financing for 5.4 months of future imports,” the National Bank said.
As reported, Ukraine’s international reserves decreased for the third consecutive month in November – by 0.5%, to $38 billion 785.2 million.
The National Bank has raised its forecast for Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of this year to $38.3 billion from $34.5 billion in its April forecast.
According to the NBU’s updated estimates presented at a briefing on Thursday, Ukraine’s international reserves will reach $42.6 billion at the end of next year and $44.1 billion a year later, while in April the National Bank gave more modest estimates of $36.1 billion and $37.1 billion, respectively.
The NBU expects that this year the external financing of the state budget alone will amount to $42 bln, and next year it estimates such a need at $37 bln.
According to its forecasts, such a large-scale financial external support will fully cover the negative current account balance, which this year and next year the NBU estimates at $11 bln, $17.2 bln and $16.1 bln, respectively.
As reported earlier, due to a significant inflow of external financing, Ukraine’s international reserves rose by 4.5 percent in June to a record high of $39.00bn.
