Ukraine's international reserves grow by 12.4% in June – NBU

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) says the country's international reserves as of July 1 totaled US$28.516 billion, which was 12.4% up from the figure reported as of June 1.

The reserves have hit an eight-year high since the autumn of 2012, the regulator said on its website on July 7.

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"Such a significant increase in reserves over the past month is due to the receipt of the first tranche under the new program of [cooperation between Ukraine and] the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and related financing, as well as increasing the purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank on the interbank forex market," the report said.

In general, the dynamics of reserves during the month was determined by such factors as international funding and government operations to manage public debt.

In particular, Ukraine received the first IMF tranche under a new Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) and related official financing from the European Union, as well as placed government domestic loan bonds in foreign currency.

At the same time, US$1.19 billion was allocated for servicing and repaying public and government-guaranteed debt in foreign currency on servicing and repaying government debt in foreign currency, of which US$1.07 billion was paid on government domestic loan bonds in foreign currency and US$75.7 million on government foreign loan bonds. Other funds were repaid on other liabilities to foreign creditors.

The NBU's operations on the interbank foreign exchange market also influenced the dynamics of reserves.

"The supply of currency by businesses continued to exceed demand. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, the National Bank bought the excess amount of currency and replenished international reserves. In June, the NBU bought US$1.155 billion. No interventions to sale currency were carried out," the report said.

UNIAN memo. Ukraine's international reserves as of June 1, 2020, amounted to US$25.372 billion, which was 1.3% down from the figure reported as of May 1.

Ukraine's international reserves in 2019 grew by 22%, to US$25.3 billion as of January 1, 2020, having hit a seven-year high since December 2012.