The interbank exchange rate of the dollar yesterday rose by 24 kopecks to UAH 37.93/$

Yesterday, the National Bank of Ukraine sharply increased the exchange rates of the dollar and the euro, setting them at the level of 37.8951 UAH/$ (+0.2717 UAH) and 40.8092 UAH/€ (+0.2963 UAH), respectively, for Tuesday.

On the interbank yesterday, the dollar rose in price by 24 kopecks compared to Friday's rate - to 37.9-37.93 UAH/$, while on the cash market the rate increased by only 15 kopecks to 38.2 UAH/$.

It is worth noting that last week was the sixth week in a row when the National Bank reduced the sale of currency on the interbank, which indicates the stabilization of the demand and supply of the currency. During the week, the NBU sold $201 million, which is the lowest volume since April 2023, when $125.34 million was sold on April 4-7.

In total, in 2024, the National Bank sold $2.9 billion interbank and bought $17 million, and the net sale of foreign currency in January decreased by 29% compared to December to $2.533 billion.

Perhaps the increase in exchange rates was a response to the advice of IMF representatives who arrived in Kyiv to discuss with the Ukrainian authorities the purpose of economic policy and the challenges faced by the Ukrainian economy. This was reported by the permanent representative of the IMF in Ukraine V. Stepanyan.

Analysts expected a decrease in the hryvnia exchange rate from UAH 36.6/$ to UAH 38-39/$, which would restrain imports and support exports, as well as increase budget revenues. However, the National Bank pursues a strange policy, artificially maintaining the interbank exchange rate at the level of 36-36.5 UAH/$ for several months and spending a lot of foreign exchange reserves on it.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, during January, Ukraine's international reserves decreased by 4.9% to $38.5 billion.

The NBU explains the decrease in reserves by interventions needed to maintain exchange rate stability, debt payments and a decrease in international aid receipts, and note that this amount of reserves provides financing for 5.1 months of future imports.

The foreign currency account of the government received $898.9 million, of which $386.8 million are loans and grants from Japan transferred through the World Bank. $441.6 million was transferred to the repayment and servicing of the state debt, of which $368.5 million - servicing and repayment of foreign currency government bonds, $69.6 million - servicing and repayment of the debt to the World Bank.

The increase in the dollar exchange rate against the hryvnia will allow exporters to increase their purchase prices for grain and oil crops, which will somewhat compensate for the decrease in export prices on the world market.