Ukrainians are buying less foreign currency: what amounts are we talking about?
8 June 14:09
In May 2026, the amount of foreign currency purchased by Ukrainian households exceeded the amount sold by $0.29 billion in dollar terms, compared with $0.37 billion in April of this year and $0.28 billion in May of last year. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" citing Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the National Bank, compared to April, cash currency purchases decreased by $15.9 million to $1.7779 billion, while sales increased by $64.0 million to $1.4897 billion.
In May, the public purchased $1.183 billion in cash dollars, which is $41.8 million less than in April, while sales rose by $71.5 million to $1.1207 billion.
The population’s purchases of cash euros in May, in dollar terms, increased by $29.4 million to $536.8 million, while sales decreased by $2.2 million to $311.8 million.
In the segment of bank customers’ non-cash foreign currency transactions, both purchases and sales increased in May compared to April: purchases rose by $120.0 million to $9.8409 billion, and sales by $470.3 million to $7.6092 billion.
Interbank transactions in May decreased by nearly $176.0 million compared to April, to $7.1094 billion.
On an annual basis, non-cash currency purchases by bank customers increased by $1.2876 billion, sales by $1.0146 billion, and the volume of interbank transactions by $1.076 billion.
The official hryvnia-to-dollar exchange rate in May weakened by 18 kopecks compared to April, reaching 44.27 UAH/$1. During the month, it hit a new all-time low five times, most recently on May 28 at nearly 44.30 UAH/$1. At the same time, the official hryvnia-to-euro exchange rate strengthened by 14 kopecks over the month, reaching 51.44 UAH/EUR1.
The National Bank’s net foreign exchange interventions in May decreased by $400.7 million compared to April, to $3.1854 billion, but exceeded the May 2025 figure, when they stood at $2.9233 billion.
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