Ukraine received the first tranche under the new Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with the IMF approved by the IMF Executive Board on 18 December 2018. As of 21 December 2018, Ukraine’s international reserves reached USD 20.1 billion due to the disbursement of SDR 1 billion (about USD 1.4 billion) by the IMF. The figure is a five-year high. Last time the international reserves reached this level in January 2014.
As we reported earlier, the new 14-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) for Ukraine amounts to the equivalent of SDR 2.8 billion (about USD 3.9 billion). Among other things, the program will focus on reducing inflation, while maintaining a flexible exchange rate regime, strengthening the financial sector and a set of structural reforms in the area of tax administration, privatization and governance.
Continued cooperation with the IMF, as expected, opened for Ukraine access to the related financing. On 18 December, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors also approved a USD 750 million Policy-Based Guarantee (PBG) for Ukraine. The decision, in its turn, will help Ukrainian government raise capital in the international markets in 2019.
The NBU estimates show that due to financing from the international partners (IMF, World Bank, European Commission) Ukraine will finish the year with USD 20 billion of international reserves, which is higher than the previous NBU forecast, and will keep them at the appropriate level during 2019.