Ukrainians' net forex purchases rise to ten-year maximum in Oct - NBU

MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax) - The value of currency purchases by Ukrainians in October 2023 exceeded the value of its sales by $739.4 million, which is 66.4% more than the September figure and 5 times more than the August figure, Ukrainian media reported with citing data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

According to information on its website, the last time the population replenished their reserves of cash currency in similar volumes was from the end of 2013 through the beginning of 2014.

The NBU said that, in October of this year, this result ensured an increase in the net purchase of both cash currency - by 100% compared to September, to $380.1 million, and non-cash, which increased 37.4% to $359.3 million.

According to the National Bank, in the cash market, purchases increased from $1.548 billion in September to $1.749 billion, sales rose from $1.365 billion to $1.369 billion, the volume of purchases by the public of non-cash currency jumped from $485.3 million to $580.3 million, while its sales decreased from $223.7 million to $221.5 million.

As reported, the NBU, which had kept the official hryvnia exchange rate at $36.5686 UAH/$1 since the end of July 2022, switched to a system of managed exchange rate flexibility on October 3. At the end of last month, the official exchange rate strengthened to $36.2812 UAH/$1, and on the cash market, after a jump in the first days of the change to 38.30 UAH/$1, it strengthened to 37.76 UAH/$1 by month-end.

Based on official statistics, Ukrainians purchased $880.1 million more in forex transactions in 2022 than they sold.