Net sale of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased this week to $533.4m from $507.8m a week earlier, according to the regulator’s data.
According to them, the central bank sold $533.6m on the interbank market and bought back $0.15m.
The official hryvnia exchange rate weakened by 37 kopecks during the week, in particular, on Friday the national currency exchange rate fell by 17 kopecks to UAH 39.7206/$$. – to 39.7206 UAH/$1.
In the cash market, the dollar also rose in price during the week: by about 12 cents to UAH 39.95/$1. – up to UAH 39.95/$1, including on Friday – by 6 kopecks.
As evidenced by the data, which the NBU managed to publish for this period, from Monday to Wednesday, the negative balance between the volume of currency purchases and sales by the population increased from $30.2 million to $56.9 million.
Last Friday, May 3, the National Bank announced the largest package of easing of currency restrictions for businesses since the beginning of the full-scale war, which provides for the abolition of all currency restrictions on imports of works and services, provides the ability of businesses to repatriate “new” dividends, provides an opportunity to transfer funds abroad on leasing and rent.
In addition, the new steps of currency liberalization provide for the easing of restrictions in terms of repayment of new foreign loans and interest on “old” foreign loans, as well as easing restrictions for the transfer of foreign currency from representative offices in favor of their parent companies.
As reported, the NBU increased its net foreign exchange interventions on the interbank market in April by 27.7% to $2.283bn, compared to $1.370bn in the same period last year.
On April 24, Ukraine received the second tranche of transitional financing in the amount of EUR1.5 billion (UAH 63.32 billion in hryvnia equivalent) under the European Union’s Ukraine Facility instrument, and the country also received UAH 2.7 billion in grants from international partners last month.
Ukraine’s international reserves in April decreased by 3.1%, or $1.4 billion – to $42 billion 399.5 million. On April 25, the NBU raised their forecast for the end of this year to $43.4 billion from $40.4 billion and to $44.3 billion from $42.1 billion – at the end of next year.
