Ukraine gross reserves inch up 0.1% in February

Ukraine’s gross international reserves inched up 0.1% (USD 0.015 bln) to USD 15.46 bln in February, or 3.3 months of future imports, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on March 6. The main foreign currency inflow came from net ForEx interventions, worth USD 80.9 mln. As tradition, spending was directed towards debt servicing, namely USD 66.5 mln on IMF debt and USD 62.4 mln on the interest of other liabilities.

Alexander Paraschiy: February gross reserves were better than we expected, which means that external accounts kept improving despite the trade blockade imposed on Donbas. We anticipate reserves will improve in upcoming months owing to a USD 1.0 bln IMF wire that we expect in Marchand a EUR 600 mln loan from the EU. 

What’s more, if exports continue to strongly recover, we’ll see gross reserves far above the USD 19.5 bln mark (4.3 months of imports) that we project currently.