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Ukraine plans to stockpile $15-18 bln worth of reserves by 2016 — official

Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva admits it's a very ambitious plan

KIEV, August 12. /TASS/. Ukraine plans to stockpile from $15 bln to $18 bln worth of gold and foreign exchange reserves by the end of this year, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeria Gontareva said in an interview with Focus Magazine.

"We plan to boost foreign exchange reserves to $18 bln by the end of the year. This is quite an ambitious plan while our minimal target is $15 bln, which covers 3 months of import," she said.

In July 2015, the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $112 mln to reach $10.375 bln. The growth was enhanced by an $878 mln tranche from the US, the European Union and the World Bank (WB) and placement of Ukraine’s government bonds worth $205 mln, the National Bank said. Also, the dynamics was influenced "by positive balance of NBU interventions" worth $89 mln.

In July, Ukraine made payments on redemption and service of government and government-backed debt in foreign currency worth $536 mln, of which $453 mln were paid for government loan bonds service, and redemption and service of government securities, the regulator said. "Also, in July a total of $219 mln were transferred to the International Monetary Fund," the NBU report said.