The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) took into account 15 requests from the government asking to soften restrictions and help individual large Ukrainian companies and holdings with settlements on eurobonds and with Western creditors and will consider each request separately, the regulator's press service reported in response to Interfax-Ukraine's inquiry.

"The NBU will also pay attention to the performance of the relevant business groups both before and during a full-scale war. This is necessary to understand whether a separate NBU permit is really critically necessary for each individual company," the NBU said.

According to it, the National Bank is aware that currency restrictions are not a market practice, however, this is a forced consequence of the full-scale war, and it is the war that remains the key deterrent to the influx of investment into Ukraine, and not currency restrictions. According to the regulator, anti-crisis measures allow the NBU to maintain macro-financial resilience, which is critical for the influx of investment into the country.

The NBU said that at the same time, currency liberalization remains one of its strategic priorities, for which in 2023 it developed a comprehensive Strategy for easing currency restrictions, transitioning to greater exchange rate flexibility and returning to inflation targeting, which is tied not to time limits, but to the prerequisites, and the NBU makes efforts to form them.

The priority, in particular, is to enable the repatriation of new dividends as part of the first stage of easing restrictions, which is now being implemented. The priority of the second stage, the regulator said, will be, in particular, the repatriation of interest on old loans.

"The National Bank remains a supporter of an integrated approach to easing restrictions in accordance with the Strategy. This is due to the fact that the country's FX resources are limited, especially given the disruption of the rhythm of international financing. Providing individual permits to individual companies will require a corresponding expenditure of the country's limited resources," the NBU said in its response.

The National Bank said that "this could significantly undermine the NBU's ability to create the preconditions for easing currency restrictions for everyone."

According to the regulator, more than three thousand enterprises expect their mitigation only in terms of restrictions on the repayment and servicing of external corporate debts. The NBU believes that such individual permits will distort the competitive environment and provide individual companies with advantages over others.

However, at the same time, the regulator said that the limits of the above-mentioned strategy are flexible enough to allow payments that are critical to maintaining the defense capability and resilience of the Ukrainian economy.

"Taking this into account, the NBU will consider each government request individually and make a decision only if it complies with these principles and only when the appropriate prerequisites are seen," the National Bank said.

The gradual easing of currency restrictions for everyone while maintaining exchange rate, price and financial resilience will continue to remain one of the NBU's priorities, the regulator concluded in its response.