Individuals in Ukraine sell $207 mln more currency than purchased in June, cash market increases fourfold - National Bank

MOSCOW. July 8 (Interfax) - The amount of currency sold by individuals in Ukraine in June exceeded the amount of purchased currency by $207.3 million, against $262.2 million in May and $237.8 million in April, the Ukrainian media reported, citing data the National Bank of Ukraine.

According to data on its site, the net sale is still composed of non-cash currency amid the practically full ban on its purchase by the individuals imposed by the National Bank after February 24: the amount of currency sold in June went down to $206.6 million from $244.1 million in May and $252.6 million in April, whereas the amount purchased reached $11.9 million, against $10.2 million in May and $8.6 million in April.

At the same time, the amount of transactions on the cash market increased fourfold in June after the National Bank of Ukraine lifted the price ceiling for currency sale. Banks sold $72 million to individuals in March, $62.7 million in April, $216.9 million in May, and $865 million in June.

The amount of currency purchased from the individuals on the official market increased even more, to $852.4 in June from $188.6 million in May, $68.8 million in April and $71.3 million in March.

According to these data from the National Bank of Ukraine, the turnover on the official cash market in June exceeded the pre-crisis level by 40%, whereas it was less than five percent in the first months of the crisis after a full ban.

The amount of non-cash currency sold has decreased 2-2.5 times from the pre-crisis levels, whereas the amount purchased fell almost a hundredfold .

At the same time, clients of banks started buying considerably more non-cash currency than sell in June: the "net" purchase reached $1.678 billion, against $1.184 billion in May and $421.2 million in April.

In general, individuals since the start of this year have sold $497.7 million more currency than purchased, whereas banks' clients, on the contrary, have purchased $5.7 billion more than sold.

Interventions of the National Bank of Ukraine in June increased almost to $4 billion from $3.4 billion in May, $2.2 billion in April, $1.78 billion in March, $0.31 billion in February, $1.31 billion in January.

As a result, Ukraine's international reserves decreased by 9% to $22.76 billion in June and by 26.5%, or by $8.18 billion, since the start of the year.