Ukraine’s gold and foreign-currency reserves may grow by year-end should “positive economic tendencies persist,” the central bank said, putting it at odds with the International Monetary Fund, which predicts a decline, reads Bloomberg report.
While reserves shrank 4.7 percent to $29.3 billion in June, the lowest level in two years, the drop was mainly because the former Soviet republic repaid $600 million of Eurobonds and $1.1 billion loaned to it by Russia’s VTB Group, according to central bank Governor Serhiy Arbuzov.
“The recent decline in reserves was caused by foreign-debt repayments, not by Ukraine’s economic situation worsening,” Arbuzov, 36, said July 16 in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg. “The central bank managed to increase reserves at the start of the year by buying foreign currency.”
