National Bank Reserves Hit $19 bn.

Valery Litvitsky, head of the National Bank’s advisory council, said reserves had reached $19 bn and were likely to surpass the historical peak of $19.4 bn as early as in October-November. Alexander Viktorov: Reserves have been climbing steadily since the end of April, when the last period of decline bottomed out at with reserves at $17.2 bn. Besides improved terms of foreign trade, thanks mainly to the recovery of steel prices, the recent CHF 384m Eurobond placement pushed up reserves.