How did Ukraine spend the nearly $42B in international financial assistance it received last year?

Last year, Ukraine received about $42B in financial support. In addition, the country received more than $3.5B by placing foreign currency government bonds. The money, according to People’s Deputy of Ukraine Nina Yuzhanina, was directed to:

1. servicing and repayment of state debt in foreign currency ($6.7B) and IMF payments ($3.4B)
2. NBU interventions to sell foreign currency ($34.8B) were carried out to compensate for the structural deficit in the foreign exchange market and smooth out excessive exchange rate fluctuations
3. increasing international reserves sufficiently to maintain exchange rate stability

Note that Ukraine’s international reserves grew by 8% over the past year and, as of January 1, according to preliminary data, reached $43.8B, which are both record figures. In particular, in December international reserves increased by 9.7%.