NBU reserves breach USD 35 bln

In January interventions by the National Bank of Ukraine on the interbank FX market turned positive for the first time since August 2010 (i.e. the central bank bought out more foreign exchange than it sold on the market), which amounted to +USD 255.5 mln vs. –USD 613 mln in December. This fueled NBU reserve growth by 1.6% m-o-m to USD 35.1 bln, while the USD/UAH exchange rate stayed within 7.93-7.99 during the month. Mykyta Mykhaylychenko: Apparently, increasing export metal prices (+5% during January) contributed to the excessive FX supply on the local FX market at the beginning of the year. We expect the NBU to continue maintaining stability in the exchange rate in the months to come.