Ukrainians in April sold to the banks $117.8 billion more in foreign currency than they bought, while in April last year they bought $209.2 million more in foreign currency than they sold, according to the Web site of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

According to the report, in general, in January-April the population of Ukraine bought $307.1 million more in foreign currency than they sold, which is 5.5 times less than in the same period last year ($1.683 billion).

According to the NBU, in April the public sold to the banks $1.572 billion (in January-April - $5.002 billion), which is 21.3% up compared to April 2012 ($1.296 billion) and 25.4% up from March 2013 ($1.253 billion).

Purchase of foreign currency by the public in April was $1.454 billion (in January-April - $5.309 billion), which is 3.4% below the figure for the same month last year ($1.505 billion), but 16% more than in March 2013 ($1.256 billion).

In addition, the NBU said the volume of bank deposits by individuals in freely convertible currency in April 2013 fell by $5.4 million, to $22.377 billion: in January-April the figure decreased by $74.7 million, or by 0.3%, from $22.452 billion.