Ukraine's foreign reserves up 5.8%, to $21.8 bln in July

As of August 1, Ukraine’s international reserves amounted to $21.84 billion, which is 5.8% more than in early July, the National Bank reports.

According to the NBU website, the increase in reserves was due to the regulator purchasing foreign exchange in the interbank market.

The report says the positive dynamics over the past month was facilitated by the favorable situation in the foreign exchange market, which developed as a result of the growing interest of non-residents in hryvnia-denominated government bonds, as well as the preservation of a positive pricing environment for Ukrainian exports and moderate volumes of imports.

The NBU emphasized that these factors led to a significant excess of currency supply over demand and allowed the National Bank to replenish foreign reserves due to interventions in the interbank foreign exchange market totaling $1.27 billion. In July, the regulator did not intervene in foreign currency sales.

Read alsoNBU's currency purchases almost double last week

In addition, the dynamics was affected by government operations on managing public debt. In July, the proceeds from the placement of government bonds denominated in foreign currency amounted to $1 billion, which allowed almost completely compensating for servicing and paying off state and state-guaranteed debt in foreign currency.

Also, the revaluation of financial instruments (changes in market value and the hryvnia exchange rate to foreign currencies) affected the dynamics of foreign reserves for the said period. Last month, their value decreased by $56.6 million.

"As of August 1, 2019, the volume of international reserves covers 3.4 months of future imports, which is sufficient to fulfill Ukraine's obligations and current operations of the government and the National Bank," the report says.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank improved the forecast for international reserves for the end of 2019 to $21.7 billion from $21.2 billion forecasted previously.

Ukraine's international reserves in 2018 increased by 10.6% to $20.820 billion, updating a five-year high.