By KYIV. Oct 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) last week fell by 63%, to $214.1 million from $569.2 million a week earlier and $604.6-608.5 million in the previous two weeks.
According to the information of the National Bank on its website, from October 24 to October 28, it purchased $13.5 million, which is slightly more than the usual volume of purchases during the war, while it sold $227.6 million compared to $576.4 million a week earlier.
In the cash market, the hryvnia significantly strengthened by the end of the week – almost by UAH 1, to about UAH 39.65/$1, while the spread between the bid and ask rates narrowed further.
"We can observe that the hryvnia is even strengthening in the cash market, and its exchange rate differs by less than 10% from the official one, which is an acceptable value," First Deputy Head of the NBU Kateryna Rozhkova said during the National Telethon the other day.
She said that the National Bank sees no real reasons for further devaluation, it managed to replenish reserves thanks to external assistance, and by the end of the year they are expected to further increase to $26 billion.
"Thanks to the joint efforts and tools introduced by the National Bank, the market is more or less in a balanced state," Rozhkova said.
Commenting on the jumps in interventions on individual days, she explained that business demand for the purchase of foreign currency is quite stable and rhythmic, but there are still needs of the Ministry of Defense and other government agencies, the purchase of foreign currency for which is not so rhythmic.
Since the beginning of October, the volume of interventions of the National Bank amounted to $2 billion compared to $2.75 billion in September, $1.33 billion in August and $1.2 billion in July and remains much less than in June ($3.96 billion) and May ($3.4 billion).
In general, from the beginning of the year to October 28, inclusive, the NBU purchased $3.163 billion and EUR 111.0 million on the market, and sold $21.508 billion and EUR 1.789 billion.
Including since the beginning of the war, the purchase of foreign currency has reached $2.506 billion and EUR 111.0 million, and the sale – $18.738 billion and EUR 1.789 billion.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of October 1, 2022, according to the NBU, amounted to $23.93 billion (in equivalent), which is 5.9% less than at the beginning of September. At the same time, according to the new governor of the NBU, Andriy Pyshnyy, as of October 7, they again exceeded $24 billion, and by the end of the year, the National Bank expects them to be at the level of $26 billion.
