Preliminary data showed that as of 1 October 2019, Ukraine’s international reserves stood at USD 21.4377 billion (in the equivalent). In September, they decreased by 2.6% due to considerable repayments on public debt.
In general, changes in reserves in September were driven by the following factors:
- first, operations related to the management of public debt. Last month, the government and NBU spent USD 1.9738 billion (in the equivalent) on the servicing and repayment of public and publicly guaranteed debt denominated in foreign currency. That includes USD 1.2237 billion allocated for the servicing and repayment of domestic government bonds and USD 560.9 million for debt repayments to the IMF. The rest of the funds were used to meet other liabilities to foreign creditors and international financial institutions. These expenses were partially offset by receipts from the placement of USD 546.9 million of Eurobonds.
- second, favorable FX market conditions, primarily resulting from two new fundamental factors – sustained inflows of nonresident funds into hryvnia-denominated public debt and record-high grain yields in Ukraine. The factors noted above led to an excess of foreign currency supply over demand and enabled the NBU to add USD 930.3 million to international reserves in September. In particular, the central bank purchased USD 650.3 million through interventions at the best exchange rate, and USD 280 million through interventions at a single exchange rate. During the month, the NBU did not conduct any interventions to purchase foreign currency.
- third, the revaluation of financial instruments (change in their market value and in the exchange rate of the hryvnia against foreign currencies). Last month, the value of these instruments decreased by USD 80.8 million (in the equivalent).
Overall, international reserves could pay for 3.4 months of future imports, which is sufficient for Ukraine to meet its obligations and for the government and the NBU to conduct their current operations.
Data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity are compiled and distributed on a monthly basis:
- for preliminary data, no later than on the seventh day following the reporting month
- for revised data, no later than on the 21st day following the reporting month.
Revised data are available here.