Ukrainians bought $77.3 more cash than they sold in March 2019, while in March 2018, Ukrainians sold $104.9 more currency that they sold, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on Monday.

According to the central bank, the volume of purchases was negative: last month clients of banks sold currency for $4.49 billion and bought for $4.8 billion.

In Q1 2019, the population and clients of banks sold $161.6 million and $697.3 million more than bought.

The NBU said that the sale of cash currency by banks to the population in March of this year increased 29.3% compared to the previous month, to $1.137 billion (equivalent), while the purchase increased by 12.4%, to $1.059 billion (equivalent).

The regulator said that Ukrainians bought $866.9 million directly last month (in February $671.5 million), sold $799.8 million ($716.7 million).

Compared to March 2018, the sale of currency by banks to the population increased by 58.8%, including U.S. dollars by 56%, while purchase grew by 29.1%, including U.S. dollars – by 26%.

March was the first month this year, when Ukrainians bought more cash than they sold. Last year there were three such months: August, November and December, however, in general, the population sold currency $1.48 billion more than it bought.