Ukraine's international reserves decreased by 5% in August

Ukraine's international reserves as of September 1, 2026, amounted to $48.66 billion. In August, they decreased by 5%, mainly due to significant foreign exchange interventions by the NBU amid a decline in international financial assistance.

This was reported by the National Bank of Ukraine.

For comparison, on August 1, international reserves amounted to $51.2 billion. Thus, their volume decreased by approximately $2.5 billion over the month. In July, the decline was considerably smaller—only 0.1%.

The main factor behind the decline in reserves in August was NBU operations on the foreign exchange market. The regulator sold $4.8507 billion and purchased $0.5 million. As a result, net foreign currency sales amounted to $4.8502 billion.

At the same time, the volume of external inflows was significantly less than the National Bank's expenditures on supporting the foreign exchange market. In August, $927.3 million was credited to the government's foreign currency accounts at the NBU.

Ukraine spent $721.8 million on servicing and repaying its foreign currency public debt. Of this amount, $357.9 million was payments to the World Bank, $288.7 million for servicing external government loan bonds, and another $16.9 million for foreign currency domestic government bonds. $58.3 million was paid to other creditors.

Additionally, in August, Ukraine transferred $285.2 million to the International Monetary Fund.

The decline in reserves was partially offset by a revaluation of financial instruments due to changes in their market value and exchange rates. This factor increased the volume of reserves by $752 million.

The NBU explained that the decline in reserves occurred against the backdrop of a decrease in international financial assistance inflows while maintaining foreign exchange interventions at approximately the level of the previous month.

Despite the decline, the regulator considers the current volume of international reserves sufficient to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange market.