Business news from Ukraine

“NET” SALES OF FOREIGN CURRENCY BY NATIONAL BANK FELL BY HALF FROM APR 4 TO APR 8

In the week from April 4 to 8, the National Bank of Ukraine again sold more currencies than it bought: dollars – by $ 211 million, euros – by EUR 84.9 million, which, however, is more than two times less than a week earlier, when the “net” sale amounted to $282.1 million and EUR299.8 million.

According to the NBU on its website, this week it bought only $11.5 million and EUR5.5 million, while their sale amounted to $222.5 million and EUR90.3 million.

As reported, in the first week and a half after the war started by Russia on February 24, the “net” purchase of foreign currency by the National Bank amounted to $690.3 million and EUR20 million, since the ban on the purchase of foreign currency had just been introduced, and the list of critical imports had not yet been significantly expanded.

However, in the following weeks, the volume of currency purchases by the central bank began to fall, while the volume of its sale increased. At the same time, last week was the first when the growth trend of “net” sales stopped, and its volumes even slightly decreased compared to the previous week: to the equivalent of $611.9 million from $618.6 million a week earlier, and this week they fell twice at once.

In total, since the beginning of the year, the National Bank has purchased $1 billion 778.8 billion and EUR80.2 million on the market, and sold $4 billion 501.9 million and EUR1 billion 82.7 million, including since the beginning of the war the purchase of foreign currency amounted to $1 billion 121.9 million and EUR80.2 million, and the sale of $1 billion 731.7 million and EUR1 billion 82.7 million.

Ukraine’s international reserves as of April 1, 2022, according to preliminary data, amounted to $28 billion 107.5 million (in equivalent), which is 2% more than at the beginning of March ($27.538 billion).

NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE TO CONSIDER CURRENCY EASES

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) will soon consider some relaxations regarding foreign exchange operations, said the head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kyrylo Shevchenko.
“I think that in the near future we will consider some concessions regarding foreign exchange transactions. In principle, we are already doing them,” he said in an interview with Economic Truth.
The head of the NBU added that today the difference between the official rate and the rate on the black market has begun to narrow quite significantly compared to what it was at the beginning of the war.
“If at the beginning of the war we saw in exchangers that the exchange rate fluctuated around UAH 40/$, today the average cash market rate is 31.63-32.05 UAH/$. This is not a very wide spread and this makes us happy”, he pointed out.
As reported, on February 24, the National Bank suspended the work of the foreign exchange market of Ukraine, except for the sale of foreign currency, and fixed the rate at the level of February 24.

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UKRAINIAN CURRENCY DROPS ON INTERBANK MARKET

The hryvnia exchange rate, when plans to introduce a state of emergency were announced, fell below the level of UAH 29.5/$1 on the interbank market on Wednesday afternoon.
As one of the market participants told Interfax-Ukraine, in the first half of the day, thanks to the efforts of the National Bank, it was kept at the level of UAH 29.3-29.35/$1 compared to UAH 29.05/$1 at the end of the day on Tuesday, however, some transactions have now appeared much cheaper than UAH 29.5/$1.
The weakening of the hryvnia is also taking place in the cash market, where since the beginning of the day the bid quotes have risen from about UAH 29/$1 to UAH 29.2/$1, while the selling rate has risen from UAH 29.3/$1 to UAH 29.7/$1.
In the cash market among individuals, according to the finance.ua resource, the hryvnia exchange rate has already fallen to UAH 30/$1.
As reported, last week, after two weeks of net redemption of foreign currency, the NBU again returned to its net sale to support the hryvnia: the sale amounted to $503 million, the purchase – $50 million, although since the beginning of the year the National Bank has sold $2.064 billion and bought – $0.657 billion.
However, another aggravation on the part of Russia and its recognition of the so-called “L/DPR” with the next territorial claims this week led to the weakening of the hryvnia by almost 4%, and the need for the National Bank to again enter the market with interventions to support the hryvnia. Its additional interventions are estimated at over $400 million.

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NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE BUYS $600 MLN TO STABILIZE UKRAINIAN CURRENCY

Since the stabilization of the foreign exchange market, the National Bank has bought $600 million, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said.
“The National Bank is now buying funds (from the foreign exchange market), has already bought $600 million. We can state that the panic in the foreign exchange market has passed,” she said at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Kharkiv.
At the same time, she indicated that by the end of 2022 inflation is expected to stabilize and reach the target of 5%.

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