Ukraine's int'l reserves increase by 1.9% to $28.5 bln in Dec, down 7.9% in 2022 - National Bank of Ukraine

MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) - Ukraine's international reserves, according to preliminary estimates, reached $28.491 billion as of January 1, 2023, which is 1.9% or $536.4 million more than in November 2022 thanks to forex proceeds from international partners in December, which exceeded the interventions of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to sell currency to support a fixed rate.

International reserves as a whole decreased by 7.9% last year, Ukrainian media reported on January 6, citing NBU data. At the beginning of 2022, Ukraine's international reserves stood at $30.941 billion.

International reserves trends were influenced in December by state debt management operations, the regulator said. In particular, forex proceeds to the accounts of the Ukrainian government in the National Bank of Ukraine reached $4.468 billion in December, including $598.7 million from the European Union, $2.03 billion from the United States through the World Bank's trust fund, $540.7 million from domestic government bonds placement, $402 million from the World Bank, $367.8 from Canada, and $528.9 million from other international creditors.

The government's total payments to repay the state debt in foreign currency reached $833.9 million, of which $119.6 million was used to repay debts to international creditors and $714.3 million was used for domestic government bonds servicing.

Ukraine also paid the International Monetary Fund (IMF) $166.2 million.

International reserves were also affected by the NBU transactions on the interbank exchange. In particular, the regulator's sale on the forex market of $3.193 billion and the purchase of $29.6 million for reserves, which made the balance of interventions negative, $3.163 billion.

The reserves were also affected by the increase in the value of financial instruments by $231.6 million.

According to NBU, the current volume of international reserves finances 3.6 months of future imports, which is sufficient for the fulfillment of Ukraine's obligations and the current obligations of the government and the National Bank.