Distrust of the hryvnia: Ukrainians break 12-year record for buying foreign currency
7 November 2024 09:22
In October 2024, Ukrainians bought USD 1.39 billion more than they sold, a record high since November 2012. For comparison, in September, this surplus of purchases amounted to $1.09 billion, and in August – $0.78 billion. Such data were reported by the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine, reports "Komersant Ukrainian"
The increase in purchases is primarily due to the growing demand for cash currency. In October, Ukrainians bought $2.585 billion worth of cash currency, which is 319 million more than in September. Instead, the sale of cash foreign currency increased by only USD 42.2 million, reaching USD 1.312 billion.
As for non-cash transactions, the volume of purchases increased by $26.3 million, reaching $420.2 million, while sales increased by $5.6 million to $299.3 million.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
In 10 months of 2024, Ukrainians bought a total of $9.63 billion, which is three times more than $3.14 billion in the same period last year. The largest contribution to this figure was made by the purchase of cash currency, which amounted to USD 8.67 billion, while in the same period of 2023 this amount was only USD 2.18 billion.
In the legal entities market, demand for foreign currency also increased in October, to $6.77 billion from $6.13 billion in September, the highest level since December 2023. However, the volume of foreign currency sales increased even more, to $5.38 billion, up from $4.59 billion in September.
The volume of transactions between banks reached USD 6.21 billion in October, rising for the second month in a row. This is the highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion, but before that, in February 2022, the volume was $12.1 billion.
Despite this demand, the dollar fell slightly in early November, which can be explained by external financial support for Ukraine.
Follow us on Telegram: the main news in a nutshell
