The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has lowered the official forex rate by 2% over one day and set it for December 1, 2008 at UAH 6.8777 per U.S. dollar – the lowest value of the national currency against the U.S. dollar over its entire history.
The official forex rate of the hryvnia against the U.S. dollar fell by 0.6%, to UAH 8.753249 per EUR.
Since the beginning of the year, the official forex rate of the hryvnia against the U.S. dollar has declined by 36.2%. Yet, over the past week alone (Monday through Friday), it fell by 11.4%.
The NBU's resolution that pegs the official forex rate to the interbank one came into effect on November 28, 2008, yet, the joint memorandum signed by the government and the National Bank of Ukraine allows the latter to apply a 2% deviation of the official forex rate from the interbank one.
According to the market operators, the official forex rate of the hryvnia against the U.S. dollar on the interbank forex rate on Friday fell to UAH 7.5 per U.S. dollar from UAH 7.35 per U.S. dollar registered on Thursday.
The interbank forex rate since the beginning of the current year has fallen by 48.4%, to UAH 7.5 per U.S. dollar, whereas in 2007 it decreased by 0.2%, to UAH 5.0540 per U.S. dollar.
