OREANDA-NEWS. Preliminary data suggests that as of 1 April 2017, Ukraine's international reserves amounted to the equivalent of USD 15.123 billion. International reserves have declined by 2.2% on the month due to payments related to the repayment and servicing of the public and publicly guaranteed debt denominated in foreign exchange.

In March 2017, Ukraine's international reserve dynamics were determined by a number of factors:

• First, favorable global market conditions enabled the National Bank of Ukraine to purchase an excess supply of foreign currency in the interbank FX market. In March, the NBU purchased a total of USD 128.3 million to replenish international reserves, including USD 91.0 million purchased through interventions with request for best quotation. Last month, the NBU conducted no FX sale interventions.

• Second, the disbursement of official financing. In March, the NBU received a loan of USD 100 million from the Swiss National Bank.

• Third, external debt service payments made by Ukraine. International reserves were used for repayments and servicing of public and publicly guaranteed debt denominated in foreign currency in the amount of USD 582.1 million, including USD 541.5 million in interest payments on external sovereign bonds and domestic government bonds denominated in foreign currency. Some USD 16.0 million were used on payments of the NBU due to the IMF.

Currently, the amount of Ukraine’s international reserves is sufficient to cover 3.3 months of future imports and enable the Government and the NBU to settle their foreign debt obligations and current operations.