Despite the growing share of the euro in Ukraine’s foreign trade and international reserves, the US dollar remains the exchange rate-forming currency for the hryvnya. This was reported by the first Deputy head of the NBU Sergey Mykolaychuk in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“Historically, the focus has always been on the hryvnia-dollar pair. We realize that changes are possible over time with the deepening of European integration, but there is no clear transition plan. Today the dollar remains the exchange rate-forming currency,” he said.
According to the official, the structure of reserves and settlements may change in the future, however, instruments for hedging currency risks, including forwards, are available for business.
Ukraine will be able to avoid recession and even accelerate economic development after the end of active hostilities, the first deputy head of the NBU, Serhiy Mykolaychuk, has said.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he emphasized that the international experience of post-war crises is not fully applicable to Ukraine.
“We expect that defense spending will remain significant, while European integration plans and capital inflows will support the economy. In addition, the reintegration of veterans into peaceful life will be faster than it was in other countries, thanks to modern technologies and features of society,” Mykolaychuk said.
The National Bank, in cooperation with international partners, is working on reforming the infrastructure of the Ukrainian capital market. This was announced by First Deputy Head of the NBU Serhiy Nikolaychuk in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, the goal is to adapt Ukrainian regulations to European standards, improve investor protection, and create a basis for the inflow of long-term capital after the war. “We want the Ukrainian market to be as integrated as possible into the European financial space,” Nikolaychuk said.
The National Bank of Ukraine does not support the initiative to include cryptocurrencies in the state’s international reserves. This was stated by the first Deputy head of the NBU Serhiy Mykolaychuk in an interview with the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“Consultations with the NBU on this bill was not held, and in our opinion such changes would be premature. We do not plan to include virtual assets in international reserves,” Nikolaychuk emphasized.
He explained the regulator’s position with three main arguments:
1) The high risk level of crypto-assets, which are unable to ensure the reliability of reserves.
2) Lack of a uniform legislative definition of cryptocurrencies, which makes their inclusion risky in terms of legal certainty.
3) Impact on Ukraine’s European integration, as the European Central Bank considers it unacceptable to include cryptoassets in the reserves of EU central banks.
The National Bank of Ukraine considers the issuance of military domestic bonds (OVDPs) to be the main and most effective instrument for covering the budget deficit in wartime. This was announced by First Deputy
Head of the NBU Serhiy Nikolaychuk in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, high demand from banks and the population allows the Ministry of Finance to successfully place securities while maintaining macrofinancial stability. “OVDPs remain a safe and most transparent way to finance the state’s needs,” he said.
The consolidated financial result of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) for January-June 2025 amounted to UAH 51.2 billion, which is 2.4 times less than in the same period of 2024, according to the central bank’s report on its website on Wednesday.
According to the report, the National Bank ended the second quarter of this year with a financial result of UAH 36.4 billion, which is 43.6% less than the financial result of the second quarter of last year.
This decrease in profit is explained by the decline in the result from operations with financial assets and liabilities in foreign currency and monetary gold: in the first half of this year, they amounted to UAH 17.1 billion, compared to UAH 95.7 billion in the first half of last year, including UAH 21.0 billion in the second quarter, compared to UAH 49.7 billion.
“The largest impact on the amount of profit was made by the results of transactions with financial instruments in the amount of UAH 25.6 billion, consisting of recognized interest income on non-resident securities and changes in the fair value of financial instruments and the official exchange rate,” the NBU noted.
At the same time, the central bank emphasized that the consolidated profit reflected in the National Bank’s financial statements is not part of the distributable profit to be transferred to the state budget, which will be determined based on the results of the entire 2025 and published in the spring of 2026. In April and May 2025, the National Bank transferred UAH 84.2 billion to the state budget based on the results of 2024.
The central bank also reported that at the end of the first half of the year, its assets increased by 3% to UAH 2,791 billion. The main changes were due to changes in foreign currency-denominated assets, namely: a 54% increase in SDR assets to UAH 71.8 billion; a 10% increase in foreign currency and bank metal funds and deposits to UAH 534 billion.
As the NBU noted, the volume of international reserves it managed in accordance with its mandate increased by 3% to $45.1 billion at the end of the first half of 2025.
The National Bank’s liabilities at the end of the first half of 2025 amounted to UAH 2,171 billion, which is 1.8% more than at the beginning of the year.
Among other things, the volume of funds of state and other institutions increased by 35% to UAH 375.2 billion; at the same time, the volume of liabilities on loans received from the IMF decreased by 34% to UAH 34.8 billion.
According to the report, as of mid-year, hryvnia funds of budgets and budgetary institutions in NBU accounts amounted to UAH 50.5 billion (UAH 101.4 billion at the beginning of the year), while foreign currency funds amounted to UAH 320.9 billion (UAH 171.9 billion).
In the first half of this year, the National Bank reduced its expenses on deposit certificates by 7.6% to UAH 39.9 billion, although in the second quarter they increased by 6.6% to UAH 21.7 billion.
“The 9% increase in the National Bank’s equity capital in the first half of 2025, from UAH 567 billion to UAH 619 billion, was mainly due to the accumulation of profits in the current year,” the National Bank emphasized.
The final amount of the National Bank’s distributable profit to be transferred by the National Bank to the state budget in 2026 will depend on the actual macroeconomic indicators in 2025 and will be determined after confirmation by an external audit and approval by the National Bank Council of the NBU’s annual financial statements for 2025.
According to the report, personnel expenses in the first half of this year increased by 28.8% to UAH 2.28 billion.
