Net purchase of foreign currency by Ukrainian population rises to $1.5 bln in Jan 2025 – National Bank
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) – The volume of foreign currency purchases by the Ukrainian population exceeded the volume of foreign currency sales by $1 billion 479.8 million in January 2025, which is 34.1% higher than in January 2024 and 13.6% higher than in December 2024, and is the largest volume since December 2012.
Compared to December, the sale of cash foreign currency decreased by $157.1 million to $2 billion 430.9 million, while the purchase was only $63.4 million, causing an increase in the negative balance to $1 billion 290.3 million, Ukrainian media said, citing the website of the National Bank of Ukraine.
In addition, the sale of non-cash foreign currency also decreased by $69.1 million in January 2025, while non-cash purchase increased by $14 million to $460 million, leading to an increase in the negative balance to $189 million.
At the same time, in the first half of January, when the hryvnia weakened, the volumes of its purchase were larger, and the daily negative balance decreased at the end of the month after the national currency strengthened. A surge in demand was seen again only on the last day of the month and at the beginning of February.
A decrease in purchases to $5.56 billion was recorded on the legal entities market in January, following a surge in foreign currency purchase by bank clients to $8.41 billion in December from $6.22 billion in November, which is only 10% more than in January 2024.
The sale of foreign currency by bank clients also fell significantly in January 2025 to $3.78 billion from $4.96 billion in December, which is 10% less than in January last year.
The volume of inter-bank transactions also decreased compared to December, from the crisis-period record of $7.96 billion to $6.12 billion. However, this is 40.8% higher than in January 2024.
As reported, the official hryvnia exchange rate fell from UAH 42.0295/$1 in the first half of January to a new historical minimum of UAH 42.2841/$1, yet the currency strengthened to UAH 41.8242/$1 in the second half of the month.
Net sales of foreign currency by the National Bank on the interbank market decreased to $3.75 billion in January 2025 from the record high $5.28 billion observed in December, although this is significantly more than $2.53 billion seen in January 2024.
In general, the volume of foreign currency purchases by the Ukraine population of Ukraine in 2024 exceeded the sales volume by $12.22 billion, which is 2.5 times, or $7.43 billion, higher than in 2023. Still, Ukraine’s international reserves grew to $43.8 billion last year, owing to massive foreign assistance.
The official hryvnia exchange rate to the U.S. dollar weakened by 10.6%, or UAH 4.02, during 2024, including 0.9%, or 37 kopecks, in December.
