Ukrainians are increasingly choosing the euro over the dollar
18 August 07:15
The volume of cash euro purchases by the population in July this year reached the equivalent of $639.1 million, compared to $577.7 million in June and $514.7 million in May.
This is stated in the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to the statistics, sales volumes did not increase so significantly – to the equivalent of $327.3 million in July from $295 million in May, so net purchases of euros in July reached the equivalent of $311.8 million compared to $219.7 million in May.
As for the cash dollar, according to the NBU, the volumes of its purchase and sale in recent months have been approximately equal: in July, Ukrainians bought only $17.1 million more than they sold, while in June this figure was $43.5 million, and in May – $58.2 million.
The NBU also reported that for the third month in a row, the population has been selling more non-cash currency than buying: in July, the difference reached the equivalent of $57.5 million, compared to $39.7 million in June and $32.2 million in May.
Overall, according to the NBU, in July, purchases of foreign currency by households exceeded sales by the equivalent of $270 million, compared to $282 million in June and $248 million in May.
As for transactions by corporate clients of banks with non-cash foreign currency, both purchases and sales increased in July compared to June: purchases increased by $737.1 million to $9 billion 108.4 million, while sales increased by $425.9 million to $6 billion 775.6 million.
Interbank transactions in July increased by $932.6 million to $7 billion 187.8 million compared to June.
On the cash foreign exchange market, the dollar rose slightly in July, by 17 kopecks to 41.44 – 41.78 UAH/$1, while the official hryvnia exchange rate weakened by 12.5 kopecks to 41.77 UAH/$1.
July, like June, was characterized by very close values of the cash and non-cash exchange rates, and on some days the dollar was cheaper on the cash market.
At the same time, due to the depreciation of the dollar on the global currency market, the euro in July rose by about 90 kopecks to 48.64-49.09 UAH/EUR1 on the cash market in Ukraine.
In July, the National Bank’s net foreign exchange interventions increased to $3.436 billion from $2.963 billion in June of this year, which is also slightly more than $3.318 billion in July last year.
