By KYIV. Nov 2 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The volume of foreign currency purchases by the population of Ukraine in October 2023 exceeded the volume of its sales by $739.4 million, which is 66.4% more than the September figure and five times the August figure, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported.
According to information on its website, the last time the population replenished their reserves of cash currency in such volumes was in February 2014 and several months before that.
In October this result ensured that the net purchase of cash currency doubled compared to September, to $380.1 million, and noncash currency by 37.4%, to $359.3 million.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), which has maintained the official hryvnia exchange rate of UAH 36.5686/$1 since the end of July 2022, switched to a regime of managed exchange rate flexibility on October 3.
The U.S. dollar exchange rate on the cash market, after jumping to UAH 38.30/$1 in the first days of the regime change, strengthened to UAH 37.76/$1 by the end of the month.
According to the National Bank, the volume of sales of noncash currency by the population in October fell to $221.5 million from $223.7 million in September, while the volume of purchases jumped from $485.3 million to $580.3 million.
On the cash market in October, purchases increased and decreased – from $1.548 billion to $1.749 billion, while sales increased slightly: from $1.365 billion to $1.369 billion.
