Ukraine’s government plans to settle the debt for Russian gas spending a part of its gold and forex reserves, TASS reported citing Ukraine’s central bank Governor Valeria Gontareva.
“We are going to cope with the heating season. We have reached an accord with the International Monetary Fund that we would be able to pay for gas directly from the forex reserves,” Gontareva made a comment. In her view, this way Ukraine will be able to improve a range of macroeconomic indicators as well as to soften pressure on the forex market. In this context, the National Bank of Ukraine upgraded its GDP decline forecast to -7% from -9%.
October 31, Ukraine, Russia, and the European Commission signed the winter gas agreement in Brussels. This agreement sets out Ukraine is to settle $3.1 billion from the $5.3 billion debt by the end of 2014. Extra batches of gas are to be bought from Gazprom on the advance payment terms.
