Experts noted that demand prevailed in the interbank market recently and bank clients bought more currency than they sold.
The cash rate of the hryvnia against the US dollar strengthened significantly last week to the level of mid-October and may continue to strengthen until the New Year.
“The supply of the currency on the cash market outweighs the demand, and over the past week the hryvnia exchange rate in the largest retail banks strengthened by approximately 0.6%, to 39.3-40.1 UAH/dollar. The current level closely approached the values of the end of October, when the exchange rate in the largest retail banks strengthened to UAH 39.1-40/dollar,” says the financial weekly of the ICU investment group.
The company’s analysts note that the interbank market was once again dominated by demand and bank clients bought more currency than they sold. Therefore, the NBU’s interventions on the sale of foreign currency increased again, up to 583 million dollars. – maximum from mid-October.
“In the conditions of the approach of the cycle of Christmas and New Year holidays, the supply of currency may increase further, contributing to the strengthening of the hryvnia exchange rate on the cash market. The interventions of the NBU in the interbank market remain at a fairly high level and may increase in December due to the end of the year and the need for settlement of contracts. However, such a sale is unlikely to create excessive pressure on international reserves due to the arrival of large amounts of aid from Western partners,” analysts predict.
Dollar exchange rate in Ukraine
We will remind, in the draft of the state budget for 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers predicted the average exchange rate of the dollar at the level of more than 42 hryvnias/dollar.
It is also worth noting that before the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the exchange rate of the hryvnia was floating. And on July 21, the National Bank weakened the official hryvnia exchange rate by 25% to UAH 36.57/dollar.
