In August 2026, the volume of foreign currency purchases by Ukrainian households exceeded the volume of sales by $0.45 billion in dollar terms, compared to $0.5 billion in July of this year and $0.36 billion in August 2025.
According to data from the National Bank, in August, compared to July, cash currency purchases decreased by $68.8 million—to $1.9327 billion—while sales decreased by $17.0 million, to $1.4846 billion.
The volume of cash dollar purchases by the public in August increased by $28.9 million to $1,352.1 million, while sales decreased by $56.1 million to $1,034.6 million.
In the cash euro market in August, purchases by the public, in dollar terms, decreased by $108.1 million to $499.8 million, while sales increased by $26 million to $367.6 million.
As for bank customers’ non-cash foreign exchange transactions, both purchases and sales increased in August compared to July: purchases rose by $164.9 million to $11.1925 billion, and sales rose by $144.6 million to $7.6579 billion. At the same time, the volume of interbank transactions decreased by $409.9 million to $8,183 million.
On an annual basis, the volume of non-cash foreign currency purchases by bank customers increased by $2,904.0 million, sales by $998.2 million, and interbank transactions by $2,000 million.
In August, the official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate strengthened by nearly 14 kopecks compared to July—to 44.55 UAH/$1—while against the euro, the hryvnia weakened by nearly 61 kopecks—to 51.88 UAH/EUR1.
The National Bank’s net foreign exchange interventions in August rose to $4 billion 815.7 million, an increase of $24.7 million compared to July and $2 billion 119.8 million compared to August 2025.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased its interventions in the interbank market last week by $56.8 million, or 4.5%, to $1 billion 329.0 million, according to statistics on the regulator’s website.
According to the National Bank, during the first four days of last week, the average daily negative balance of currency purchases and sales by legal entities rose to $210.3 million from $195.0 million during the same period a week earlier, totaling $841.2 million.
In the retail foreign exchange market, the average daily net deficit nearly doubled: from Monday through Thursday, it stood at $46.6 million, compared to $24.6 million during the same period the previous week. Retail purchases of non-cash foreign currency exceeded sales every day.
The official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate at the beginning of last week was 44.5505 UAH/$1, and by the end of the week it had weakened to 44.7273 UAH/$1.
A similar trend was observed in the cash market, where the hryvnia’s exchange rate against the dollar weakened by 7–8 kopecks over the past week: the buying rate fell to 44.48 UAH/$1, while the selling rate fell to nearly 44.88 UAH/$1.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), based on the companies’ own applications, revoked the operating licenses of Forward Finance LLC, Statuscapital LLC, and Garonna Financial Company LLC and removed them from the State Register of Financial Institutions, the regulator announced on Friday.
The licenses granted the right to provide funds and precious metals on credit, as well as to engage in factoring.
The decision to revoke the licenses and remove the companies from the registry was adopted by the Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Nonbank Financial Services Markets on September 3.
According to the NBU, in the first half of 2026, LLC “FC Forward Finance” earned 518.84 million UAH in revenue from providing financial services and 48.5 thousand UAH in net profit. Statuscapital LLC generated 5.12 million UAH in revenue from financial services and 708,800 UAH in net profit, while
FC “Garonna” LLC ended the first half of the year with a loss of 2.94 million UAH.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has fined iPay (UPR LLC), an online platform for money transfers and online payments, 16.51 million UAH for violating the laws governing the payment market, the regulator announced.
It is noted that the violations, identified as a result of off-site supervision, concerned, in particular, inadequate control over the quality and sufficiency of information accompanying payment transactions.
The company must pay the fine within five business days from the date it is notified of the decision by the NBU’s Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Banking Activities and Oversight of the Payment Infrastructure.
In addition, the regulator issued a written warning to iPay for violating requirements regarding the management and authorization system for financial payment service providers.
The company must rectify the identified violations and take measures to prevent their recurrence within no more than 30 calendar days from the date of receiving the decision.
The committee adopted the relevant decisions on September 2.
As previously reported, in September 2025, the NBU had already fined iPay 16.6 million UAH for violations in the area of financial monitoring, specifically deficiencies in risk assessment, internal controls, handling of customer data, and reporting. At the same time, the company received a written warning for errors in reporting and record-keeping.
The Business Activity Expectations Index (BAEI) fell to 48.3 points in August 2026 from 50.1 points in July and was lower than the August 2025 figure (49.0 points), the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on its website.
The last time the BAI was in negative territory was in February 2026, when it stood at 45.9 points.
“Significant losses resulting from the widespread destruction of production facilities, warehouses, and logistics infrastructure, the blockage of seaports, high fuel prices, and a shortage of skilled workers limited economic activity among enterprises and negatively affected business sentiment,” the regulator noted.
At the same time, business activity was supported by steady consumer demand, international financial support, budgetary funding for infrastructure restoration and road construction, a stable situation in the energy sector, as well as seasonal factors.
Construction companies were the only sector among those surveyed to maintain positive assessments of their performance: the sectoral index stood at 50.7 points in August, compared to 54.2 a month earlier and 54.0 in August of last year.
Construction companies expected an increase in construction volumes, new orders, and purchases of raw materials and supplies, as well as continued growth in the volume of contractor services purchased, albeit at a slower pace.
In the services sector, the sectoral index rose to 49.5 points from 48.8 in July and exceeded the August 2025 figure (47.0 points). Companies maintained positive assessments of new orders and resumed optimistic expectations regarding the volume of services provided and those currently in progress.
Retail businesses reported weaker assessments: the sectoral index fell to 47.5 points from 50.8 in the previous month and 51.8 in August of last year. They expected a decline in sales and purchases of goods for resale, a further reduction in their inventories, and a decrease in profit margins.
Assessments from industrial firms were the most subdued: the sectoral index fell to 47.3 points in August from 50.7 in July and 48.7 in August 2025.
Unlike the previous month, manufacturers expected a decline in production volumes and new orders—particularly export orders—while forecasting an increase in inventories of raw materials and supplies.
Most of the surveyed companies expected price pressures to intensify for both purchases and their own products and services. Only construction companies forecast a slight slowdown in price growth.
Only construction companies planned to increase their workforce, while enterprises in manufacturing, trade, and the service sector expected a reduction in the number of employees, with the most significant decline expected in manufacturing.
The survey was conducted from August 4 to 21, 2026, with 586 enterprises participating: 43.7% from manufacturing, 25.9% from the service sector, 24.6% from trade, and 5.8% from construction.
Among the respondents, 30.9% were large enterprises, 29.2% were medium-sized, and 39.9% were small. Export and import operations were conducted by 35.0% of respondents; 8.0% engaged only in exports; 17.6% engaged only in imports; and 39.4% did not engage in any foreign economic operations.
Foreign exchange interventions by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on the interbank market in August remained close to July’s level, increasing by $24.7 million, or 0.5 percent, to $4.82 billion, according to data from the regulator’s website.
At the same time, the official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate strengthened by 0.3%, or 14 kopecks, in August, reaching 44.5505 UAH/$1 at the end of the month.
The volume of the National Bank’s interventions in the interbank market last week increased by 6.5%, or $77.9 million, compared to the previous week, reaching $1.27 billion.
According to the NBU, net interventions in August rose by 78.6%, or $2.12 billion, year-over-year.
From January through August, the regulator sold nearly $33.0 billion in foreign currency, which is 39.0%, or $9.25 billion, more than during the same period last year.
Over the 28 days of August, the average daily negative balance of legal entities’ currency purchase and sale transactions increased to $169.5 million from $151.8 million in July.
In the retail foreign exchange market, this figure rose from $19.4 million in July to $25.9 million in August.
