NBU reserves inch up 1.7% mom in April

The National Bank of Ukraine’s gross international reserves increased 1.7% mom in April (down 0.4% YTD) to USD 31.7 bln. Earlier, the lead advisor to the NBU governor said the central bank purchased net USD 0.3 bln on the interbank market in April alone.

Vitaliy Vavryshchuk: The April data on NBU reserves is the latest in a series of positive numbers on Ukraine’s external accounts. In general, strong reserve statistics point to the fact that Ukraine’s C/A shortfall remained safely covered with FDI and debt thus far. We recently upgraded our forecast of Ukraine’s 2012 external financing gap (combined balances of C/A and financial account) to USD 6.1 bln from USD 7.1 bln previously (see our daily news from May 3) and think the NBU is well equipped to offset any imbalances on the FX market to keep the hryvnya broadly stable though end-2012.