The National Bank of Ukraine published data on the state of the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves based on the results of last year. According to its information, gross international reserves in 2005 grew 2.04 times - from $9.5 billion to $19.4 billion. Their structure as of December 31 is as follows: the share of monetary gold amounted to $275.9 million, available foreign currency - $14.4 million, other reserves in foreign currency - $19.1 million.
In December, the National Bank's gold and foreign exchange reserves decreased by $76.7 million (by 0.39%). As reported by the National Bank, this decrease is related to payments on external state obligations made during this period. In addition, in December the balance of the National Bank's interventions on the interbank foreign exchange market was also positive. It reached $8.1 million.
For comparison - the growth dynamics of gold and foreign exchange reserves last year were higher than in 2004. In the year before last, the National Bank's gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by only 37.3% - from $6.9 billion to $9.5 billion. In 2003, they grew by $2.5 billion, or by 57.7% - from $4.4 billion to $6.9 billion.
Printed in the newspaper "DELO" No. 53 of January 11, 2006.