After falling to $27.84 billion in May, Ukraine’s international reserves returned to the level of the end of April and amounted to $28 billion in the middle of June, Head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine Bohdan Danylyshyn has said.
“The total net balance of foreign exchange interventions by the NBU since the beginning of 2021 has increased to $655 million, which, taking into account the government’s borrowings in foreign currency, has made it possible to expand the NBU’s international reserves to $28 billion,” he wrote on Facebook.
Danylyshyn said that in the interbank FX market during the last week there was a significant (about $43 million on average per day) prevalence of foreign currency supply over demand, which led to the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate by 0.8%, to UAH 27.00/$1 and allowed National Bank to buy back $375 million in a week.
The head of the NBU Council said that high prices for the main goods of Ukrainian exports – agricultural products, iron ore and steel, as well as an increase in the demand of nonresidents on government securities of Ukraine contributed to the increase in the supply of foreign currency by 18.7% by the first week of the month, with the demand decreasing by 2.7%.
As reported, at the beginning of this year, Ukraine’s international reserves amounted to $29.113 billion.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kyiv) from June 17 changed its name to Raiffeisen Bank with the changes in the charter and public register, the bank’s press service said on Thursday.
“The name of the bank should be simpler, like everything for our clients: our products and services should be simple. We continue transforming, this is part of our strategy. Moving towards simplicity, we emphasize our belonging to a powerful international financial group,” the press service said, citing Board Chairman Oleksandr Pysaruk.
Raiffeisen Bank continues honoring its commitments to customers as the successor of Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
The bank said that in connection with the renaming, there is no need to contact branches, reissue cards or reissue documents.
Raiffeisen Bank Aval was founded in 1992. As of March 1, 2021, its largest shareholders were Raiffeisen Bank International with 68.27% of shares and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with 30%. Another 1.19% of the shares belonged to other legal entities and 0.54% to individuals.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), as of March 1, 2021, Raiffeisen Bank Aval ranked fifth in terms of total assets (UAH 118.336 billion) among 73 operating banks.
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of June 15
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 17/06/21
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Ukraine has canceled special restrictions on entry into the country from India, introduced on May 2 this year due to the widespread of COVID-19 in this country. Resolution No. 611 dated June 16 was published in the Uryadovy Kurier newspaper on Thursday.
Since May 2, a complete ban was introduced on the crossing of the Ukrainian border by foreigners and stateless persons who arrived from India or stayed on its territory for at least seven days over the past 14 days.
An exception was made only for citizens of Ukraine and foreigners who permanently or temporarily reside in the territory of Ukraine, who are spouses or children of citizens of Ukraine, for whom the requirement of mandatory self-isolation was established, regardless of the presence and result of PCR testing. However, now this requirement has also been annulled.
The fall in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020 accelerated to 2% from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, the State Statistics Service said.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to achieve an increase in the volume of net bank loans to business entities and individuals in relation to GDP at the level of 22% in 2024, which is 8.1 percentage points more than as of 2020 (13.9%).
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine worsened expectations of real GDP growth in the updated macro forecast from 4.6% to 4.1% in 2021, from 4.3% to 3.8% in 2022, ex-Minister Ihor Petrashko said.
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-March 2021 expanded by 1.4% compared to January-March 2020, to $1.315 billion from $1.296 billion.
Consumer prices in Ukraine at the end of April 2021 year-over-year slowed down from 8.5% to 8.4% at the end of March.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to achieve an increase in the volume of net bank loans to business entities and individuals in relation to GDP at the level of 22% in 2024, which is 8.1 percentage points more than as of 2020 (13.9%).
The balances on the government’s foreign currency Single Treasury Account (STA) as of May 5, 2021 amounted to $1.6 billion, head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Bohdan Danylyshyn said.
The total public debt of Ukraine in April 2021 increased by 1.29% in U.S. dollars to $91.33 billion and by 0.8% in hryvnias, to UAH 2.534 trillion, according to data on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
Prices in the Ukrainian industry in April 2021 grew by 1.2%, while in March – by 1.6%, in February – by 7.8%, in January – by 5.2%.
Industrial production in Ukraine in April 2021 increased by 13% compared to April 2020, while in March the growth was 2.1%, in February and January – a fall of 4.6% and 4%, respectively.
The retail trade turnover of Ukraine in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2020 in comparable prices increased 34.3%, while in March it grew by 13.1%.
