Ukraine fulfills all IMF requirements for second debt tranche, NBU says

Макроэкономика 02.07.2015 The Ukrainian side has fulfilled almost all the preconditions to receive the second tranche of the IMF’s EFF program, Dmytro Sologub, the deputy head of the National Bank (NBU), stated on July 1, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine. The IMF board of directors will meet soon to decide on the tranche, he said. Recall, NBU Chair Valeriya Gontareva revealed her expectations at Concorde Capital’s June 19 conference in New York that the IMF will reach its decision on a second tranche (USD 1.67 bln) in mid-July. Ukrainians were net sellers of foreign currency in June Individuals in Ukraine sold USD 174 mln more in foreign cash than they bought in June, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on July 1, citing Serhiy Parkhomenko, the official of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). The supply of foreign currency exceeded demand at the ForEx and the NBU managed to purchase USD 240 mln at the market, he said. Alexander Paraschiy: A near-zero current account balance, as well as continued support from Western partners maintained stability at the ForEx market. The hryvnia has been hovering in the range of UAH 21-22/USD and the public did not pay much attention to exchange rate selling out foreign currency accumulated previously. Still, serenity isn’t guaranteed through the end of this summer. Ongoing talks of a potential default against the backdrop of the dramatic developments in Greece might spoil the positive tendency on individual purchases of foreign cash. What’s more, the upcoming local elections and accompanying nervousness will fuel demand for foreign cash. Nevertheless, we do not expect the threats of default to come to reality and thus we do not expect a new currency panic to erupt. In light of this, we are keeping our projection for the hryvnia at UAH 23/USD by the end of 2015.