Foreign exchange reserves of Ukraine as of May 1, 2017, amounted to US$17.175 billion, which is by $2.052 billion, or 13.57%, more than on April 1, as reported by the National Bank of Ukraine with reference to preliminary data.
The April growth of reserves was mainly due to the disbursements made by the International Monetary Fund and other donors, the report reads.
The regulator recalled that in April, $996.2 million was received from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility, EUR 579.1 million – from the European Commission, as well as $402.3 million was purchased during the NBU interventions in the interbank foreign exchange market.
Government payments on servicing and repayment of state and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency in April amounted to $68.1 million.
It is also reported that as of May 1, the volume of international reserves covers 3.6 months of future imports and is sufficient to fulfill Ukraine`s obligations, as well as current operations of the government and the National Bank.
Earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine on April 5, 2017, received the latest tranche of the IMF loan in the equivalent of $1 billion, which together with the second tranche of EU`s macro-financial assistance received the day before allowed to increase international reserves to $16.7 billion, the record level since mid-2014.
According to the NBU forecasts, forex reserves by year-end will amount to $21.1 billion, and $26.2 billion at the end of 2018, while the determining factor for the forecast is continued cooperation with the IMF and the receipt of EFF-related funding.
