Preliminary data suggests that as of 1 April 2016, Ukraine's international reserves amounted to the equivalent of USD 12.722 billion. Over the first quarter of the year, Ukraine’s international reserves decreased by 4.4% or by an amount equivalent to USD 578 million. In March 2016, Ukraine’s international reserves increased by 27.6% y-o-y.
The decrease in international reserves was primarily due to payments by the Government to repay and service public and publicly guaranteed debt denominated in foreign currency. In March, Ukraine paid back USD 853.2 million, including USD 473.3 million in interest payments on external sovereign bonds.
The NBU also paid back USD 436.0 million (balance) under swap agreement and USD 11.4 million due to the International Monetary Fund.
In March, the NBU's net FX sales to smooth exchange rate fluctuations in the interbank market amounted to USD 2.1 million and had limited impact on the stock of international reserves. In particular, USD 131.2 million was sold and USD 129.1 million was purchased through FX auctions.
At the same time, JPY 36,969.0 million (approximately the equivalent of USD 334 million) was channeled to the reserves. These funds were disbursed to the Government of Ukraine by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Currently, the amount of Ukraine’s international reserves is sufficient to cover 3.4 months of future imports and enable the Government and the NBU to settle their foreign debt obligations and current operations