Ukraine gross reserves rise 3.3% to USD 18.6 bln in September

Ukraine’s gross international reserves rose 3.3%, or
USD 602 mln, in September to USD 18.6 bln owing to USD 1.32 bln in net proceeds
from Eurobonds sold, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on Oct 5. The
month’s spending included USD 521 mln on debt servicing (including USD 505 mln
Eurobond coupon) and USD 166 mln on ForEx interventions. By the end of
September, gross international reserves covered 3.7 months of future imports.

Alexander Paraschiy: September
gross reserves are close to our expectations,
with the only difference that the national bank spent a bit more on ForEx
interventions.

Ukraine will have to pay back USD 520 mln to the
IMF and USD 651 mln on local Eurobonds by the year end. Current ForEx
tendencies promise more spending on ForEx interventions in the upcoming months.
A large part of that foreign currency outlow should be covered by an IMF loan
tranche expected to arrive by the year end. Also we expect Ukraine will place
more local Eurobonds to rollover its local payments. So we expect gross
reserves will remain at USD 18.5 bln by the year end.