IMF assesses forex reserve target for Ukraine at $30 bln
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that Ukraine does not have enough international reserves to support macroeconomic stability.
"Now [hard currency reserves] are up again to about $19 billion. This is good, because it covers three months of imports. But our assessment is that for a country like Ukraine reserves are still too low. They should be more around $30 billion. This is not an exact figure, so in that sense, the policy of the central bank in buying hard currency is a positive one," Resident Representative of the IMF in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman said at the Fitch Ratings Annual Conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
As reported, Ukraine's international reserves in October 2018 increased 0.6% and as of November 1 amounted to $16.737 billion. After receiving funds from the placement of eurobonds early November, the level of reserves by November 5 rose to $18.069 billion, which is enough for 3 months of Current External Payments (CXP).
Early November, the NBU lowered the forecast for international reserves for the end of 2018 to $19.2 billion from $20.7 billion, for 2019 to $18.6 billion from $18.8 billion and for 2020 to $19.1 billion from $19.7 billion.