By KYIV. Jan 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) allows a further increase in required reserves after their increase from January 11 by 5 percentage points (pp) on demand funds, Director of the NBU’s Monetary Policy and Economic Analysis Department Volodymyr Lepushinsky has said.
"It’s too early to evaluate the results [an increase of 5 percentage points], but most likely this is not the last step," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The director of the department said that the increase in required reserves on current accounts will encourage banks to attract term deposits, since the norms for them have not increased, which will in a certain way bind the excess liquidity surplus.
According to Lepushinsky, thanks to the actions of the NBU, a reversal of the trend towards a decrease in the share of term deposits of banks is already visible.
As reported, on December 8, the National Bank announced that from January 11 it would increase the required reserve ratio for current accounts (demand deposits) in hryvnia and foreign currency by 5 pp, to 5% and 15%, respectively, and will allow covering up to 50% of the total required reserves at the expense of benchmark government bonds. According to the estimates of the National Bank, this decision will allow the Ministry of Finance to attract an additional minimum of UAH 50 billion, and according to some estimates, up to UAH 70 billion.
