The growing demand for foreign currency in Ukraine has become a significant challenge for the banking system, which quickly responds to new economic conditions. In response to the increased demand of Ukrainians for cash dollars and euros, banks are increasing the supply of currency banknotes, which indicates an increase in financial activity in the country.
Ukrainians are increasingly actively buying cash dollars, so banks are rapidly increasing the importation of currency notes into the country. According to the results of June, the total volume of supplies increased by 13.2% compared to May 2024, and reached $1.3 billion. And for the first half of the year, it jumped by 59% (compared to the same period in 2023) and reached $7.5 billion. For comparison, in the first half of the pre-war year 2021, banks brought only $1.4 billion into the country.
This is evidenced by the data of the latest report of the National Bank.
$7.5 billion is a colossal amount for Ukraine. The fourth credit tranche of the IMF, which the Ukrainian government sought for more than six months and fulfilled an endless list of demands under it, amounted to a little more than a third of this amount - only $2.2 billion.
"Volumes of cash foreign exchange imports are an indicator of current demand from the population. Just in case, just in case, the bank will never import dollars, because it will quickly start to violate the indicator of the currency position, for which the NBU will not pat itself on the head. Therefore, as much cash is purchased as requested by clients. The cash register informs the treasury how much more dollars or euros need to be purchased, after which the order is placed and the delivery takes place.
If earlier small purchases of individuals were around 200-300 dollars, now they are 500-700. In addition, after a new wave of devaluation of the national currency, hryvnia depositors are increasingly asking for dollars - transferring a part of the deposit, the term of which has expired, or the entire deposit in general, and they also need cash," - said "Strane" in the system bank.
To understand what is happening on the foreign exchange market and to analyze the behavior of the population, it is enough to look at how the official NBU hryvnia/dollar exchange rate has changed recently:
– May 1 – UAH 39.5/$;
– June 1 – 40.5 UAH/$;
– July 1 – UAH 40.45/$;
– July 18 – UAH 41.46/$;
– July 26 – 41.2 UAH/$
The peak of the interbank dollar appreciation occurred in the second week of this month, when the non-cash market reached UAH 41.65/$. At that time, the price of the cash dollar at the bank counters was 42.20 UAH/$, and the card rate was 42.5 UAH/$.
