Ukraine's currency reserves fall to $17.8bn due to debt repayments, intervention

KIEV: Ukraine's foreign currency reserves fell to $17.805 billion as of Jan 31 - their lowest level since 2006 - compared with $20.416 billion at the end of December, the central bank said on Friday.

The bank, in a statement, attributed the drop to total debt repayments of $1.1 billion, including $650 million to the International Monetary Fund, as well as central bank interventions totalling $1.7 billion on the interbank market.

The central bank in the past 10 days has intervened regularly to help the national currency, the hryvnia, which has lost about 4 percent since the beginning of the year due to the political crisis gripping the country.