Ukraine’s international reserves over $28.5bn, highest in eight years

Ukraine’s international reserves over $28.5bn, highest in eight years
Ukraine’s international reserves over $28.5bn, highest in eight years / bne IntelliNews
By bne IntelliNews January 2, 2021

Ukraine’s international reserves are “over $28.5bn,” their highest level in eight years, Bohdan Danylyshyn, head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine, wrote on his Facebook page, as cited by UBN on January 1.

That is $3.2bn higher than at the start of 2020, or a 13% increase and over four months of import cover, which is sufficient to ensure the stability of the national currency.

Danylyshyn wrote that during this year of the coronavirus (COVID-19) shock, Ukraine’s Central Bank spent a net $1.1bn on defending the hryvnia.

Ukraine has some $16bn of debt redemptions on its bonds due in 2021, of which only $2bn comes due in the first half of the year, but some $11bn will come due in the third quarter.

The currency levels of international reserves mean the government is not under pressure to meet its obligations and has in effect about six months to mend its relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has de facto suspended its $5bn Stand-by Agreement (SBA) due to back-tracking on the government’s commitment to its anti-corruption agenda. The government will not be able to meet its redemption obligations in the third quarter of this year without help from the IMF.

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