Preliminary data suggests that as of 1 February 2018, Ukraine's international reserves amounted to the equivalent of USD 18,442.74 billion. For the first month of the year the reserves remained almost unchanged, the decline was 2% and is associated with two reasons.
First, in January, the government spending on servicing and repayment of public debt and government-backed foreign currency debt amounted to USD 565.6 million. In particular, the government paid off USD 468.5 million for servicing and reimbursement of domestic government bonds in foreign currency.
Second, in response to increasing volatility of the hryvnia exchange rate the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) conducted FX interventions to alleviate excessive exchange rate fluctuations caused by temporary factors. In January, the NBU sold USD 266.8 million of foreign currency on the interbank FX market, whereof USD 169.0 million were sold through interventions with request for best quotation.
However, the surplus foreign currency supply on the interbank market at the end of January enabled the NBU to replenish international reserves. In January, the NBU bought the total of USD 250.9 million on the interbank market of Ukraine, whereof USD 177.0 million were purchased through interventions with request for best quotation.
Thus, net FX sales amounted to USD 15.9 million.
Furthermore, the effect of revaluation of financial instruments (change in market value, exchange rates) on the reserves accounted for USD 205.9 million and that of other transactions - for USD 9.9 million.
All in all, as of 1 February 2018, the amount of the international reserves covers 3.5 months of future imports and is sufficient to meet Ukraine’s obligations and execute day-to-day operations of the government and the NBU.
Data on the international reserves and foreign currency liquidity are compiled and distributed on a monthly basis:
not later than the seventh day following the reporting month – preliminary data;
not later than the twenty-first day following the reporting month – revised data.
Revised data are available at here.