He noted that the inflow of international aid remains stable and that the NBU carefully manages its FX reserves while ensuring demand for financial instruments denominated in Ukrainian hryvnia.
“Since mid-2022, we have managed to significantly increase international reserves from approximately $22 billion to over $40 billion at certain times,” said Nikolaychuk.
“According to our forecast, by the end of this year, reserves will surpass that mark [$40 billion] again, considering the pledged volumes of international aid.”
He explained that the increase in government spending toward the end of the year is a typical seasonal phenomenon, which leads to a rise in demand for foreign currency.
“But this does not worry us because the NBU considers this in both our forecasts and our intervention strategies in the foreign exchange market,” the deputy governor said.
“We anticipate that the structural currency deficit in December will grow and will be offset by a corresponding increase in our interventions.”
In October, NBU’s FX reserves were sitting at $36.6 billion.