Ukraine gross foreign reserves rise 1.2% in September
7 October 2015
Ukraine’s gross international reserves rose 1.2%, or USD 157 mln, to USD 12.8 bln in September, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on Oct 6. The main factors were a USD 499 mln loan from EBRD and a USD 500 mln swap with Sveriges Riksbank and a net purchase of foreign currency at the ForEx of USD 152 mln. The main reserves spending involved reverse swap operations in Chinese yuan (USD 814 mln), repayments to the IMF (USD 176 mln), and external debt servicing (USD 73 mln).
Alexander Paraschiy: The September results were slightly better than we expected. The EBRD loan and swap with Sveriges Riksbank prevented gross reserves from contracting. We anticipate the positive tendency with gross reserves accumulation will only strengthen in the upcoming months. There will be no redemptions on state Eurobonds since the debt restructuring deal has been nearly reached. At the same time, we expect USD 3.3 bln arriving from the IMF, USD 1.0 bln in Eurobonds (under U.S. guarantees) and more loans from the EU and World Bank. Thus, we are projecting gross international reserves to reach USD 16.9 bln by the end of 2015.
