The National Bank of Ukraine is expanding the list of benchmark domestic government debt securities that banks have been allowed to use to partially meet the reserve requirements. The step is expected to encourage active participation in auctions held by Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance to place domestic government debt securities, which will help avoid direct funding of the budget deficit by the NBU in 2023.
According to NBU data, international reserves stood at $28.9 billion in February, reduced by 3.5% on the back of NBU’s FX sales to cover the gap between supply and demand in the FX market of Ukraine, which were largely compensated by FX funding provided to the government.