Ukraine`s international reserves as of April 1, 2016, amounted to $12.722 billion, according to preliminary data, which is $768 million, or 5.7%, less than the on March 1 ($13.490 billion), the NBU reported.
The decline of reserves in March was primarily due to the government`s repayment and maintenance of public and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency at the level of $853.2 million, according to the NBU website.
Also in March, the NBU has returned money on SWAP transaction amounting to $436 million (balance) and paid $11.4 million in favor of the International Monetary Fund.
The net foreign currency sales by the regulator aimed at smoothing out fluctuations in the interbank forex market in the past month amounted to $2.1 million, which did not affect significantly the volume of reserves. In particular, the NBU sold the currency worth $131.2 million, at the same time buying $129.1 million.
Besides, the reserves received 36.969 billion Japanese yen (equivalent to $334 million) in March. These are the funds allocated by Japan`s International Cooperation Agency for the Ukrainian government.
The National Bank notes that the volume of international reserves in March covers 3.4 months of imports and is sufficient enough to fulfill obligations and ongoing operations of the government and the National Bank of Ukraine.
As UaPosition reported earlier, the international reserves of Ukraine in February 2016 increased by 0.4%, or by $48 million, to $13.490 billion; in January – by $142 million, or 1%, to $13.442 billion.
According to the NBU estimates, the volume of international reserves of Ukraine by the end of the year is expected to reach $19.6 billion.
In 2015, the foreign exchange reserves of Ukraine increased by 77%, or $5.767 billion, to $13.3 billion as of January 1, 2016.
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