REUTERS
The gold and forex reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) expanded by 1%, or $142 million, to $13.442 billion in January 2016, according to an announcement on the NBU's website.
The reserves grew after the placement of dollar-denominated domestic loan bonds, which let the government raise $486.1 million. The balance of swap operations was $84.5 million.
The government's payments to repay and service state debt in foreign currency in January totaled $422.7 million, including $344.2 million on repayment and servicing of state securities. Of the total sum, $173.5 million was transferred to the International Monetary Fund.
What is more, the NBU in January 2016 held auctions to sell or buy foreign currency to smooth fluctuations on the forex market. In particular, the NBU bought $43.5 million and sold $117.8 million. The net sales during the January auctions amounted to $74.3 million.
The NBU said that its gold and forex reserves are equal to 3.4 months' imports and are sufficient to meet obligations and handle current operations of the government and the Central Bank.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's gold and fore reserves in 2015 expanded by 77%, or $5.767 billion, to $13.3 billion as of January 1, 2016, according to rough estimates. The reserves grew by $152 million in December 2015 alone.