REUTERS
The reserves declined after the government and central bank had serviced state debt.
Ukraine's total international reserves shrank by 1.2%, to US$18.191 billion (in the equivalent) as of April 1, 2018 compared to March 1, 2018.
The reserves declined mainly due to government and central bank payments to service state debt, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), referring to its rough estimates.
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In particular, $562.3 million was paid to service eurobonds, $678.8 million was spent on currency-denominated government domestic loan bonds, and $186 million was transferred to the International Monetary Fund.
The reassessment of financial instruments (changes in market value, the hryvnia exchange rate) to the tune of $43.2 million also affected the reserves.
At the same time, they were replenished during the month with $376 million bought by the NBU on the interbank forex market, as well as with $669.5 million and EUR 123.3 million raised via the placement of currency-denominated government domestic loan bonds.
The regulator says the international reserves cover 3.4 months of future imports and are sufficient to meet Ukraine's obligations.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the country's international reserves as of March 1, 2018, totaled $18.410 billion, which was practically the same as by February 1, 2018.
In 2017, Ukraine's international reserves grew by 21%, to $18.808 billion. The National Bank says the international reserves in 2018 may grow to $20.5 billion.