Cash currency import to Ukraine sets 10-year record in Jan 2024 - NBU

MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Cash currency imports into Ukraine in January 2024 rose to the equivalent of $1,864 billion from $1,330 billion in December and $1,033.7 billion in November, Ukrainian media reported, citing a statement on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

This is an all-time high since February 2014, when imports totaled $3.2 billion, it said.

According to the NBU statistics, the lion's share is taken by U.S. dollars and euros, which accounted for 87.1% and 12.6% of all imported cash currency in January, respectively.

In particular, the supply of dollars surged from $778.6 million - $813.8 million in October-November to $1,113.5 billion in December and $1,623.3 billion in January.

Euro imports have been gradually declining for three months: from $268.8 million in October to $211.6 million and $208 million in November-December, but grew to $235 million in January.

The NBU said that in January, gold imports fell slightly to $5.22 million from $5.44 million in the previous month, with minor transfers of pounds sterling ($508,000).

As reported, the NBU has been gradually lifting restrictions on the operation of the cash market since the fall of 2022. Additional relaxations along with the abandonment of the fixed official exchange rate from October 3 and the transition to a regime of its managed flexibility resulted in a narrowing of the spread between the rates on the cash and non-cash markets to 2% at the end of last year.