International reserves of Ukraine fell by 2.2%, to the equivalent of $15.123 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine`s website referring to preliminary data as of April 1, 2017.
The drop is due to servicing and repayment of state and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency.
In particular, $ 582.1 million was allocated for government`s payments for servicing and repaying state and publicly guaranteed debt, $16 million – for payments by the National Bank to the International Monetary Fund.
At the same time, the National Bank noted that favorable conditions on foreign markets allowed the purchase of foreign currency in the interbank foreign exchange market. In March, during the interventions, the regulator bought $128.3 million to replenish its reserves.
In addition, in March, the National Bank received a loan from the National Swiss Bank totaling $100 million.
The regulator noted that as of April 1, the volume of international reserves covered 3.3 months of future imports and was sufficient to meet Ukraine`s obligations and the current operations of the government and the National Bank.
Earlier, deputy head of the NBU Oleg Churiy said that the funds of the IMF`s fourth loan tranche worth $1 billion will be transferred to the accounts of the National Bank in the coming days, after which Ukraine`s international reserves will grow to $16.1 billion.
As UNIAN reported, Ukraine`s international reserves rose by 0.1% in February, to $15.460 billion.
According to the IMF, Ukraine`s international reserves will amount to $21.8 billion at the end of 2017, $29.5 billion at the end of 2018, $30.1 billion at the end of 2019, $30.8 billion at the end of 2020, and $32 billion at the end of 2021.
