Financial Times: The Central Bank of Ukraine is ready to refuse to support hryvnia

The Central Bank of Ukraine is ready to refuse to support the hryvnia in order to maintain its currency reserves exhausted by debt payments, reports The Financial Times . Since the devaluation of 2009, the Ukrainian authorities managed to keep hryvnias in relation to the dollar stable.

However, according to the publication, due to the threats of Russia to delay the payment of financial assistance until a new government is formed in the country, the usual policy of the National Bank of Ukraine is cracking at the seams.

Since the beginning of the year, the fall of the hryvnia rate in relation to the dollar amounted to about 5%, the newspaper quotes. A week ago, the Central Bank sold the next $ 500 million to support the national currency. Since then, according to traders, he has not performed any market operations. The country's foreign exchange reserves are rapidly drying out.

"The currency course is highly dependent on whether Russia will continue financing," Alina Slyusarchuk quotes the publication Morgan Stanley economist.

According to her estimates, the reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine at the end of January of this year allegedly amounted to 1.3 to 2 billion dollars, while at the end of last year they exceeded $ 20 billion.

The recent currency interventions and debt payments influenced such a quick reduction in stocks - and this despite the fact that Ukraine delayed Gazprom’s payment in the amount of $ 2.7 billion, the term of which has expired last week.

Meanwhile, the profitability of the dollar sovereign bonds of Ukraine, which has grown over the past two weeks, has stabilized amid the hope of receiving financial assistance from the EU.

However, any Western assistance to the new government will probably be linked to the reform - including the restructuring of the debt, the introduction of a more flexible hryvnia course and the weakening of the national currency, believes The Financial Times.