The net international reserves of Ukraine as of January 1 amounted to $ 18.1 billion, which is 19% more than at the beginning of December 2020 ($ 15.2 billion), Head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Bohdan Danylyshyn has said.
“The net forex reserves of the NBU [excluding the debt to the IMF] as of January 1, 2021 amounted to $ 18.1 billion and are sufficient to cover payments by the public sector and the National Bank on external debt to non-residents, which in 2021 will amount to about $ 7.2 billion,” he said on Facebook.
Danylyshyn added that of the external debt to non-residents, about $ 2 billion should be paid by the government on eurobonds in September 2021, as well as to cover the current account deficit, which, according to the NBU forecast, is expected at $ 3.5 billion in 2021.
According to him, the volume of planned payments of the state in favor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2021 is about $ 1.6 billion, including $ 1.36 billion for the repayment of the principal amount of the debt and $ 260 million for interest payments.
“The need to refinance Ukraine’s debt to the IMF requires the parties to fulfill their obligations under the current Stand-By Arrangement, which will allow Ukraine to attract IMF financing in the amount of about $ 2.9 billion,” he said.
He added that taking into account payments on the debt of banking and corporate sectors, as well as inter-company debt, the total volume of payments from Ukraine in favor of non-residents in 2021 will be about $ 15.5 billion.
As reported, the international reserves of Ukraine in 2020 increased by 15% and amounted to $ 29.1 billion as of January 1, 2021.
The international reserves of Ukraine by the end of 2020 may exceed the level of $27.2 billion in the April forecast of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the press service of the regulator has told Interfax-Ukraine. “The relatively favorable situation in the world commodity markets, a significant decline in imports, and the signing of a new program with the IMF give reason to expect that international reserves ($25.4 billion at the end of May) will grow even more by the end of the year than according to our April forecast ($27.2 billion),” the report said.
The press service said that the corresponding forecast is the current assumption, recalling that the central bank will present a new macroeconomic forecast in July.
“It’s probably hard to say what the next steps will be like – the uncertainty is too high. Back in April, let’s say, we didn’t even forecast a reduction in the refinancing rate below 7% this year, but today we have already reduced it to a record level of 6%,” the regulator’s press service said.
As reported, the IMF predicts a reduction in Ukraine’s international reserves this year from the current $25.4 billion to $19.3 billion, with a recovery in 2021 to $23.4 billion and in 2022 to $26.5 billion.
Ukraine’s international reserves in August 2019, according to preliminary data, rose by 0.8%, to $22.015 billion.
“They have not changed much during the month due to the fact that the National Bank’s net purchase of foreign currency in the interbank market offset the cost of repaying and servicing the state debt,” the NBU said.
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).
