International reserves up 2.9% y/y in July 2017
Gross international reserves were up 2.9% y/y to US$ 2.9bn in July 2017, while reserves were down 0.6% m/m, according to NBG. There were no FX interventions by central bank in July. Change in reserves was attributed to government FX operations and/or asset revaluation.
 
NBG purchased US$ 20.0mn
On 7 August 2017, the NBG intervened on the FX market and purchased US$ 20.0mn on its foreign exchange auction. YTD, it was NBG’s 8th intervention on the purchasing side to curb appreciation of GEL against US$. The central bank bought total of US$ 129.8mn in these 8 interventions in a period between April 12 and August 7, 2017. GEL is almost 11% stronger against US$ since the beginning of the year.