The volume of foreign currency purchases by the Ukrainian population in September 2023 exceeded the volume of its sales by $444.3 million, which is three times higher than in August, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported.
According to the NBU’s website, this result ensured an increase in net purchases of non-cash foreign currency by households to $261.6 million, while in August there was a net sale of $32.3 million.
Net purchases of cash foreign currency in September increased slightly – from $180.8 million to $182.7 million, according to the data.
As reported, on August 29, for the first time since the start of the full-scale war, the National Bank allowed citizens to buy non-cash currency worth up to UAH 50,000 per month from one bank. On the same date, it increased the monthly limit on the purchase of non-cash foreign currency by individuals from UAH 100,000 to UAH 200,000 in equivalent, with the subsequent placement on deposit for three months or more. This instrument was first allowed on July 21, 2022, with a limit of UAH 50 thousand per month.
The dollar exchange rate on the cash market rose from 37.88 UAH/$1 to 38.49 UAH/$1 in the first two decades of September, before dropping to 38.07 UAH/$1 at the end of the month.
According to the National Bank, the volume of non-cash foreign currency sales by households in September dropped to $223.7 million from $260.6 million in August, while the volume of purchases jumped from $228.3 million to $485.3 million.
At the same time, in the cash market in September, purchases decreased slightly from $1 billion 669.3 million to $1 billion 547.7 million, as did sales: from $1 billion 488.5 million to $1 billion 364.9 million.
According to official statistics, in 2022, the population bought $880.1 million more currencies than sold, including $1.01 billion more cash currency than sold.
In the first nine months of the year, net purchases of foreign currency by households amounted to $2 billion 405.5 million, including $1 billion 800.0 million in cash.
In the non-cash foreign exchange market, purchases of foreign currency by bank customers increased to $5.80 billion in September from $5.49 billion in August, while sales decreased to $3.96 billion from $4.27 billion, bringing the total net purchase for the first nine months to $8.79 billion.
In addition, it was reported that in September, the NBU’s interventions increased to $2.69 billion from $2.36 billion in August, while international financial support increased to $3 billion from $1.64 billion. In total, interventions amounted to $19.27 billion in the first nine months of the year.
