The National Bank’s (NBU) gold and foreign currency reserves grew by USD 310 mln in October to USD 19.5 bln, an increase of 1.6% yoy, up 0.3% ytd. On balance, the NBU continued to buy out the excessive hard currency supply. The NBU purchased USD 363 mln of hard currency during the month from commercial banks (it purchased USD 552 mln in August).