Ukrainians in March 2013 reduce purchase of foreign currency by almost 10 times in Jan-May, says NBU

11:10, 11.06.2013 1 min read

The amount of net purchases by Ukrainians of foreign currency from banks in January-May 2013 was equivalent to $226.1 million, which was 9.8 times down year-over-year ($2.209 billion), the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reported.

The NBU reported that individuals in May 2013 sold cash foreign currency $81 million more than bought, while in May 2012 Ukrainians bought foreign currency $526.8 million more than sold.

As reported in April 2013 individuals sold foreign currency in the amount of $117.8 million.

In general, the total volume of transactions on the cash currency market in May 2013 stood at $2.452 billion, which was 19% down on April 2013 and 24.4% down on May 2012.

In addition, the NBU said the volume of bank deposits by individuals in freely convertible currency in May 2013 narrowed by $4.4 million, to $22.373 billion as of June 1, 2013, and since early 2013 the volume of bank deposits narrowed by $79.1 million, from $22.452 billion.