NBU on Wednesday holds interventions for at least $150 mln to support hryvnia exchange rate – experts
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Wednesday held interventions for $150-180 million to support the hryvnia exchange rate, Head of the Debt Transaction Department at Raiffeisen Bank Aval Yuriy Hrynenko has said.
"By 16:30, the hryvnia exchange rate on the interbank market dropped to UAH 24.91-24.95/$1… There is a large imbalance between the exchange rate on the cash market and the interbank market – the gap is almost UAH 1. I think that NBU interventions on the interbank market in support of the hryvnia exchange rate amounted to $150-180 million," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
According to him, the demand for the U.S. dollar is due to the uncertainty of the population in the speedy resolution of the conflict in the East of Ukraine and the partial withdrawal of nonresidents from government bonds.
According to Hrynenko, within a few days, the rate may be balanced at the level of UAH 25-25.25/$1.
According to Oleh Kurinny, Director of the Treasury at Credit Dnipro Bank, among the main factors influencing the exchange rate dynamics, Kurinny called the small-sized market typical for the start of a new financial month and quarter, highly sensitive to any manifestations of volatility; reduced motivation to sell foreign currency from companies that received hryvnia compensation at the end of September; low performance of the last auction of the Finance Ministry, which placed only UAH 77 million with the declared UAH 3 billion; a reaction to the uncertain situation with PrivatBank, the next tranche of the IMF [the International Monetary Fund] and increased political turbulence, as well as a reaction to the NBU announced increase in the planned volume of interventions for the purchase of foreign currency up to $30 million per day.
"Further exchange rate dynamics will depend on the degree of manifestation of these factors and the NBU's actions to smooth exchange peaks. In the absence of political and economic shocks, a scenario of exchange rate stabilization in the range of UAH 25/$1 and subsequent smooth seasonal devaluation within the range of UAH 26.5/$1 is likely," he said.
