Gold & FX Reserves Decline 0.5% In April.

The National Bank’s (NBU) gold and foreign currency reserves fell by 0.5% and totaled USD 17.2 bln as of April 30. Since the start of the year the NBU’s reserves have shrunk 11.5%. Concorde Capital: To meet the rising demand for foreign currency caused mainly by the negative trade balance (~USD 1 bln in 2M06), the NBU sold ~USD 2.1 bln of its reserves in January-April. We expect the NBU’s gold & FX reserves to be around USD 14-15 bln at the end of 2006.