The international reserves of Ukraine in June 2019, according to preliminary data, increased by 6.4%, to $20.639 billion in equivalent due to the placement of eurobonds by the government and the purchase of currency by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in the interbank market, the NBU said on its website.
The international reserves of Ukraine in May 2019, according to preliminary data, decreased by 5.5%, to $19.402 billion due to significant repayments of government debt, according to the NBU’s website.
According to the report, last month the equivalent of $1.801 billion was allocated for servicing and repaying state and state-guaranteed debt in foreign currency. In particular, $1.281 billion were payments for servicing and redeeming eurobonds and government domestic loan bonds. Some $446.5 million was paid on the obligations of the government and the NBU to the International Monetary Fund.
These expenses were partially offset by foreign exchange earnings of $426.7 million from placing government domestic loan bonds and $10 million in financing from the World Bank. The amount of international reserves was also positively influenced by the increase in the value of financial instruments (change in market value, hryvnia exchange rate to foreign currencies) for a total of $80.7 million.
The international reserves of Ukraine in March 2019 increased by 2.1%, to $20.633 billion (in equivalent), according to preliminary data posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
The arrival of the first disbursement under a new Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and related financing can increase the country’s international reserves to more than $20.4 billion by the end of this year, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Oleh Churiy has said.
“Our reserves can grow to more than it was on January 31, 2013, and they will exceed $20.4 billion,” he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday.
Churiy specified that this forecast was made taking into account the expected arrival of about $400 million in external financing, which the government will raise under guarantees provided by the World Bank.
The NBU official recalled that Ukraine had received $1.4 billion in the first SBA disbursement in the past week, and EUR 500 million in the first tranche of the EU’s Macro-Financial Assistance was provided earlier this month.
As reported, after the receipt of the first SBA disbursement, the National Bank on December 21 reported the growth of the international reserves to $20.1 billion, which was a five-year maximum: the previous time such a level of the international reserves was recorded in January 2014.
The National Bank of Ukraine in early November lowered the forecast of the country’s international reserves for the end of 2018 to $19.2 billion from $20.7 billion, for 2019 to $18.6 billion from $18.8 billion and for 2020 to $19.1 billion from $19. 7 billion.
Ukraine’s international reserves grew by 1.3% in April 2018 and amounted to $18.421 billion as of May 1, 2018, according to tentative data published on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). According to the NBU, the main source of replenishment of reserves, as in the previous months, was the purchase of foreign currency in the interbank market.
“The prolonged excess of the supply of foreign currency over demand in the interbank market allowed the NBU to continue buying out surplus foreign currency to build up reserves, while not counteracting the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate,” the central bank said.
The NBU bought $326.7 million in the interbank market in April, including $146 million during interventions at the best rate, $80 million at a single rate, and $100.7 million at foreign currency auctions.
The NBU recalled that in the second quarter of 2018, it intends to buy $10 million daily on the interbank foreign exchange market to replenish Ukraine’s international reserves.
In addition, the central bank last month sold $24 million during interventions in the form of request for a better exchange rate. Thus, the net purchase of foreign currency amounted to $302.7 million.
The level of reserves was also positively influenced by the placement of government domestic loan bonds denominated in foreign currency for a total of EUR 83.6 million.
The expenditure of international reserves in April was mainly related to government payments for servicing and repayment of public and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency.
“The amount of payments in April was $127.4 million, including $30.8 million for servicing government domestic loan bonds denominated in foreign currency,” the NBU said.
In addition, the amount of reserves was influenced by the revaluation of financial instruments (change in market value, the hryvnia exchange rate against foreign currencies) for $59.2 million and other transactions for $11.3 million.
In general, as of May 1, 2018, the volume of international reserves covers 3.3 months of future imports and is sufficient to fulfill Ukraine’s obligations and current operations of the government and the central bank.
