Ukraine gross reserves rise 10% in September
5 October 2016
Ukraine’s gross international reserves rose 9.9% m/m in September, or by USD 1.4 bln, to USD 15.5 bln, reported the Interfax Ukraine news agency on Oct. 4, citing the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). The main factors were the IMF loan tranche (USD 1.0 bln), as well as the Eurobonds placement (USD 1.0 bln). A chunk of the money was earmarked for a USD 505 mln Eurobond coupon payment. On top of that, the NBU spent net USD 130 mln for ForEx interventions. By the end of September, gross international reserves were enough to cover nearly four months of imports.
Alexander Paraschiy: The result is slightly better than we expected (USD 15.4 bln, as we assumed higher ForEx interventions). With the IMF wire and Eurobonds accomplished, there is not much debt inflow on the horizon this year to help build reserves further besides the announced EUR 600 mln in macro-financial support from the EU. The World Bank is going to grant a USD 500 mln loan to Naftogaz but these funds will be spent on natural gas purchases immediately. Against this backdrop, we can expect gross international reserves to be close to USD 16 bln by the year end (we estimated USD 17 bln earlier).
