The hryvnia depreciation is due to the increased demand for foreign currency on the interbank foreign exchange market because of the seasonal, situational and psychological factors, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) press service reports.
At the same time, the foreign currency supply from the main export industries (mining and metallurgy complex, agro-industrial complex) remains at a rather high level, which indicates that there are no fundamental reasons for depreciating the hryvnia, the regulator notes.
According to him, the situation is affected by the seasonal increase in demand from energy resources importers that require currency for payments for gas and oil products (for early harvesting) and from consumer goods and services importers (electronics, food, tourism, etc.), which is a consequence of the population income growth. In addition, under the influence of negative expectations, traditionally on the eve of autumn, the currency supply from the population on the cash market is already decreasing, which affects the direction of banks' operations on the interbank foreign exchange market.
The National Bank also assures that it maintains the active presence on the interbank foreign exchange market to smooth out excessive fluctuations of the hryvnia exchange rate, which increased during the current week due to the further excess of currency demand over its supply. To eliminate the imbalance on the interbank foreign exchange market, the National Bank daily offered the foreign currency for sale.
