National Bank of Ukraine exchanges $40 mln, 34 mln euros in non-cash foreign currency for cash on March 11

MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) conducted transactions on March 11 to exchange banks' non-cash foreign currency for cash foreign currency, replenishing their cash holdings with $40 million and 34 million euros, while the announced volume was $100 million and 50 million euros.

"Banks' demand for such transactions remains moderate, indicating that banks have sufficient stocks of foreign cash," Ukrainian media quoted the NBU as saying in a statement on its website.

One bank participated in the March 11 transactions and its bid was fully satisfied, it said.

The NBU decided to conduct these transactions as a precautionary measure to support banks' forex liquidity if necessary, it said.

"The NBU stands ready to support banks in ensuring sufficient foreign cash amounts in their vaults [...]. The frequency and size of such transactions will depend on demand from the banking system," the regulator said.

Overall, the NBU exchanged seven banks' non-cash foreign currency of $113.1 million and 87 million euros for cash foreign currency between March 9 and 11. Demand from banks was significantly lower than the amount offered by the NBU, confirming that there is no shortage of foreign cash.