In July, the international reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) declined by 2.3% m/m to USD 22.7bn, reads the preliminary report of the NBU. The central bank attributes the reduction in reserves in July to the payment of USD 606mn on government bonds and the repayment of the latest IMF loan tranche (USD 403mn). The last time reserves contracted to such a level (USD 22,388mn) was in January 2007.
The bank said that the reduction of its reserves was partially offset by proceeds from the sale of government securities for USD 314mn. The NBU did not intervene in the interbank currency market in July.
The bank's foreign currency reserves amounted to USD 21bn as of July 31, its IMF reserve position amounted to USD 0.030mn, its special drawing rights USD 50.73mn, and its gold reserves USD 1,654.06mn. Since the beginning of 2013, the NBU’s reserves decreased by 7.4% from USD 24,546.19mn to USD 22,719.35mn.
According to various experts, Ukraine’s international reserves, that hardly cover 3-month exports, will fall to USD 20.5bn-20.7bn by the end of the year, due to widening of the foreign trade deficit and repayment of external debts.
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