Arbuzov upgrades NBU's assessment of cash in hand of public to $100 b
Over $100 billion are in hand of Ukrainians, First Deputy Prime Minister and former governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov has said.
"We have a deep domestic market, the public has over $100 billion in hand. The money is exposed to risks – from being eaten by mice to crimes," he said in an interview with Korrespondent published on April 12, 2013.
Arbuzov added that the government has started issuing government securities for the public aimed at attracting the funds.
In September 2011, he director of the general department for the monetary and credit policy at the NBU, Olena Scherbakova, said that the volume of cash currency outside the banks in Ukraine is about $70 billion.
"Summing up the elimination of cash [currency] on foreign currency exchange transactions and withdrawals from foreign currency deposits, this figure amounts to about UAH 70 billion. If various experts speak about the topic, and voice the same figure, it probably corresponds to reality," she said.
Oleksandr Dubykhvist, the director of the NBU's department of foreign exchange reserve regulation and transactions in the open market, in November 2012 said that the amount of U.S. dollars in cash held by individuals is at least $50 billion.
"According to the most modest estimates, $50 billion is cash in hand. Let's ask the question: could these cash dollars that are being used in the shadow economy as the blood of that economy pose a threat to national economic security?" he wondered.
As reported, the Finance Ministry placed a debut series of dollar-pegged T-bills worth $100 million via Oschadbank for the public in the period from October 10 to late November 2012 at 9.2% per annum. The ministry decreased the yield of the dollar-pegged T-bills to 8% per annum and raised only $7.4 million by April 11, 2013.
Deposits of individuals in foreign currency in Ukraine as of early April 2013 came to UAH 181.73 billion and deposits in hyrvnias – UAH 204.91 billion. The first type of deposits grew by 1.5% in a quarter, while the latter narrowed by 0.2%.
