In January 2026, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reduced foreign exchange interventions by $14 million, or 0.4%, compared to January last year, to $3 billion 375.5 million, while the official hryvnia exchange rate depreciated against the dollar by 2.5%, or UAH 1.2.
At the same time, in the last week of January, the NBU reduced dollar sales on the interbank market by $202.1 million, or 19%, to $859.5 million.
According to the National Bank, in the first four days of last week, the average daily negative balance of buying and selling foreign currency by legal entities decreased to $95.5 million from $137.6 million in the same period a week earlier and totaled $381.8 million.
The negative balance in the market of foreign exchange transactions of households for Saturday-Thursday also decreased to $34.0 million from $36.4 million the week before last, with sales of non-cash currency exceeding purchases on all days.
The official hryvnia/dollar exchange rate, which started last week at 43.1391 UAH/$1, strengthened to 42.7689 UAH/$1 over three days and ended the week at 42.8483 UAH/$1.
In the cash market, the dollar’s exchange rate last week followed the trajectory of the official rate. In total, the dollar fell by about 27 kopecks during this period: buying – to 42.70 UAH/$1, selling – to 43.07 UAH/$1.
According to analysts of KYT Group, a major participant in the cash foreign exchange market (Liberty Finance LLC), the key event on the international market in the second half of January was the Fed meeting: the regulator, as expected by the markets, left the base rate unchanged, actually taking a break after three consecutive cuts in 2025.
Against this backdrop, the dollar weakened against the euro throughout the month (EUR/USD reached 1.2038, followed by a pullback), while US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric pushed investors to defensive assets, which supported the euro.
In the domestic market, analysts believe that the NBU will continue its policy of managed exchange rate flexibility, while at the same time expecting that the projected amount of foreign aid will be sufficient to finance the budget deficit without issuing new debt and maintain international reserves at a level sufficient to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange market. An additional factor for market expectations was the central bank’s decision to start an interest rate easing cycle and cut the key policy rate from 15.5% to 15% starting January 30, 2026.
According to KYT Group’s forecasts, in the next one to two weeks, the dollar will remain in the basic range of 42.9-43.4 UAH/$1 with the risk of fluctuations towards a weaker hryvnia, in the medium term of two to three months – 43.50-44.00 UAH/$1, while in the first half of 2026, the benchmark remains
43.5-44.9 UAH/$1.
The National Bank of Ukraine has expanded the scope of the license for direct insurance activities of Insurance Company Vostok-West LLC (Kiev) on the basis of the company’s application, the regulator said.
Thus, the company has obtained the right to carry out direct insurance under insurance class 13 “Insurance of other liability (except as defined in classes 10, 11, 12)” on the risk of insurance of liability to third parties, other than the liability of the operator of a nuclear installation for nuclear damage that may be caused as a result of a nuclear incident, with restrictions and features that give grounds for the application of a simplified approach for the calculation of solvency capital and minimum capital.
According to the information, the structure of the company’s insurance portfolio for the first nine months of 2025 by client component is as follows: 99% of insurance payments were received from policyholders – individuals, and from legal entities – 1%. Along with insurance of agricultural products (99%), property insurance remains the priority direction.
The volume of insurance premiums in the mentioned period has amounted to UAH 12,838 mln, insurance reserves – UAH 9,649 mln. The volume of insurance indemnities for the nine months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024 has increased by 40%.
IC “Vostok-West” has been working in the insurance market of Ukraine since 2005.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased dollar sales on the interbank market by $79.0 million, or 12.5%, to $712.1 million last week, according to statistics on the regulator’s website.
According to the NBU, during the first four days of last week, the average daily negative balance of currency purchases and sales by legal entities decreased to $67.3 million from $69.3 million during the same period a week earlier, totaling $269.3 million.
On the currency exchange market for the population, on the contrary, the negative balance increased to $46.5 million from $21.9 million the week before last, and on all days, the purchase of non-cash currency exceeded its sale.
The official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate, which started last week at 42.2942 UAH/USD, weakened daily to a new historic low, broke through the 43 UAH/USD level, and ended the week at 43.0757 UAH/USD.
The hryvnia’s exchange rate against the euro also fell by 1.1% over the week, from 49.5794 UAH/EUR1 to 50.1444 UAH/EUR1. During these days, it also broke through the important level of 50 UAH/EUR1 for the first time and reached a historic low of 50.1762/EUR1.
On the cash market, the dollar exchange rate over the past week followed the official trajectory, with the dollar rising by approximately 77 kopecks over the week: purchase – to 42.84 UAH/$1, sale – to 43.26 UAH/$1, while on the black market on Monday it reached 43.4-43.5 UAH/$1, with the euro also rising in price by 80 kopecks and currently trading at: purchase – 50 UAH/EUR11, sale – 50.73 UAH/EUR1.
The National Bank of Ukraine fined FC Axioma LLC UAH 200,000 for violating currency legislation.
The violations concerned the timing of providing fragments of video archive data at the request of the NBU. A similar fine of UAH 200,000 was imposed on FC Centrofinance LLC for failure to comply with the requirements for equipping a separate unit with a video surveillance system for currency transactions.
Axioma, Centrofinance, FC, FINE, NBU
The National Bank of Ukraine fined FC Goldana Plus LLC and FC Forward Finance LLC UAH 340,000 each.
According to the regulator, the companies failed to properly submit accurate information and documents in full to the NBU upon request.
The National Bank of Ukraine imposed sanctions on the financial institution EV.RO.Lombard EV.RO.Finance LTD and Company, imposing a fine of UAH 595,000.
The fine was imposed for violations of financial monitoring requirements, in particular with regard to internal documents and procedures, risk-based approach, reporting, and responses to regulator requests.
