Macro and Politics

* The CBT will release weekly foreign portfolio flows, money & banking statistics, and international reserves for the period of May 23 – 30 @ 12:00 local time. Based on our calculations using the CBT’s analytical balance sheet, we estimate that during the week of May 23 – 30, net international reserves increased by USD1.5bn to USD49.4bn, while gross FX reserves edged up by USD186mn to USD153.5bn. We anticipate that today’s official reserve data will likely reflect a similar picture in line with our calculations. To recall the data from the previous week: During the week of May 16–23, foreign investors were net buyers in both the equity and bond markets, albeit modestly, recording net purchases of USD13.2mn in equities and USD148.4mn in government bonds (excluding repo transactions). Moreover, in the mentioned week, the residents’ FX deposits dropped by USD1.2bn (excluding gold accounts and adjusted for the EUR/USD parity effect), while their total FX deposits (including gold, price adjusted) slid by USD1.3bn during the week of May 16 – 23. Besides, the CBT’s gross FX reserves climbed by USD7.5bn to USD153.3bn and net international reserves soared by USD8bn USD48bn, while net reserves excluding swaps climbed by USD5bn to USD28.3bn.