The hryvnia to the U.S. dollar exchange rate reflected in the national budget is technical in nature and is not the official forecast of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the deputy director of the general department for monetary and credit policy at the NBU, Oleksandr Arseniuk, has said.

"It is not a forecast, it's just a technical figure," he said at a panel discussion on Thursday.

According to Arseniuk, this is a rough figure: Ukrainians should not rely on it when making plans.

As reported, according to the consensus forecast, prepared by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry in November on the basis of estimations by experts from 15 state and non-government organizations, the hryvnia to U.S. dollar exchange rate as of the end of this year will be UAH 8.41/$1 and as of the end of the next year - UAH 8.81 per $1. The highest estimates for the current year amounted to UAH 8.20 per $1 and UAH 8.80 per $1, and those for the next year - UAH 8.35 per $1 and UAH 9.50 per $1.

According to unofficial information, the government set the hryvnia to dollar exchange rate for 2013 at UAH 8.50 per $1.