No grounds for long-term weakening of hryvna, says NBU governor
Kyiv, February 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) - There are no grounds for the long-term weakening of the hryvnia, National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Governor Ihor Sorkin has said.
"There are no grounds to say that this is a long-term trend," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
"We're sure that short-term demand will decrease and the market will start operating in a narrower corridor," he said.
He said the NBU is strengthening regulations to reduce speculative demand.
He said that if the situation improves the temporary measures taken by the central bank to stabilize the exchange rate would be canceled.
He said that the NBU remains an active player on the currency market to fulfill its function - to ensure the stability of the hryvna.
As reported, the NBU introduced temporary limitations on foreign currency purchases for certain operations on the inter-bank forex market.
This is stipulated in NBU resolution #49, which is due to take effective on February 7, 2014. The limitations will be in effect until the NBU cancels them.
The NBU on February 7 also cut the official hryvna exchange rate to the U.S. dollar to UAH 8.708/$1 from UAH 7.993/$1, the rate it had been at since July 9, 2012.
