The supply of foreign currency in the Ukrainian market continues to exceed the demand, despite the blockade of traffic with the uncontrolled areas of Donbas and loss of control over Ukrainian enterprises there, largely due to the growth of agricultural exports, Head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Valeriya Gontareva has said.

"The blockade of the uncontrolled areas of Donbas and the loss of enterprises had no significant consequences in the foreign exchange market," she said at a press conference in Kyiv.

Gontareva clarified the share of agrarians in foreign currency earnings in March exceeded 40%, while in January it was below 30%.

According to her, high export opportunities strengthened the hryvnia and allowed the National Bank to buy currency for reserves more actively.

The NBU head said net forex purchases by the NBU in the market since the beginning of 2017 stood at $242 million, while net forex purchases of cash by the banks from the population were $457 million.

At the same time, Gontareva confirmed the National Bank is ready to reduce forex purchases for reserves to minimize the negative impact of the blockade and the losses of enterprises in the uncontrolled areas of Donbas in case of their manifestation.