US Dollar Value Surges in Ukraine as Official Exchange Rate Raised by 25%

The increase by the National Bank of the official U.S. dollar exchange rate by 25% – from UAH 29.2549/$1 to UAH 36.5686/$1 – a day later led to a rise in the price of the U.S. dollar in various segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market for the population by an average of UAH 1.5-2, according to data collected by Interfax-Ukraine.

In particular, in bank exchange offices it now stands to UAH 37.50-37.80/$1 when buying and UAH 38.50-39/$1 when selling the currency, although the day before some banks set the selling rate at UAH 40/$1 or even higher.

On the grey market, according to the sources Minfin and Finance.ua publications, the exchange rate more or less stabilized on Friday afternoon at the following levels: buying – UAH 38.20-38.40/$1, selling – UAH 38.80-39/$1.

The greatest changes in individual banks occurred with the rates for card transactions, especially with the U.S. dollar purchase rate, since the NBU retained the condition that they cannot be lower than the official one. As a result, some banks immediately increased them by UAH 4-5/$1.

However, in general, the purchase rates for cards have leveled off on the market and are equal to the official one or slightly higher.

Also, a significant appreciation of the currency when paying with cards abroad occurred in a number of banks, for example, UkrSibbank and Credit Agricole Bank, which kept card rates at a lower level compared to cash. At the same time, the market leaders – PrivatBank and monobank – increased the dollar exchange rate by UAH 1/$1.

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The new range of U.S. dollar selling rates for cards is about UAH 36.90-38/$1.

In general, speaking about all markets, by the middle of the day on Friday, it can be stated that the gap between their rates has become smaller, although the spreads within the segments of currency exchangers and the grey market have widened.

“The market is now looking for a new equilibrium point, and I think that it will be a maximum of 1-3 days, and it will be found,” Deputy Governor of the National Bank Serhiy Nikolaychuk said, commenting on the situation on the market on Friday morning on KSE Live.

He said that after the change in the official exchange rate, the National Bank has much more opportunities to protect it. “Therefore, in our opinion, there should be much more confidence in this level of the exchange rate,” Nikolaychuk said.

As for the restrictions introduced by the NBU on July 21 on card payments abroad, the reaction to them was an increase in interest in opening cards of other banks. Oleh Gorokhovsky, co-founder of monobank, also drew attention to this, pointing out a sharp increase in the popularity of downloading applications from Oschadbank, Ukrgasbank and Alfa Bank.