In December 2024, the National Bank of Ukraine set a historic record for the sale of its gold and foreign exchange reserves. According to a new report by the regulator, the volume of foreign exchange funds sold on the interbank market amounted to $5.3 billion.
This is the maximum not only during the Great War - the previous peak was recorded in June 2022 at $3.99 billion. But it is also the largest figure in the entire history of public observations of the NBU, which the National Bank has been updating monthly since the beginning of 2012. Before the full-scale invasion, the regulator recorded its peak foreign exchange sales during the financial crisis in October 2014 - $3.2 billion/month. Now it is 1.7 times more.
As of November 2024, the NBU's gold and foreign exchange reserves amounted to $39.9 billion, and officials promised to significantly increase them by the end of the year thanks to international assistance, which consists not only of grants but also of loans. However, no one imagined that the National Bank staff would increase the waste of the state foreign exchange reserve at such a speed. Even the leadership of the NBU itself made reassuring statements.
Recall that during a press conference on December 12, 2024, Yuriy Heletiy, Deputy Head of the National Bank for Foreign Exchange, assured that the situation on the foreign exchange market is under control, and large foreign exchange sales from the regulator's foreign exchange reserves are not expected. He said that the NBU plans to invest $3.5-4 billion in December.
This forecast was not realized, and even then the official hryvnia/dollar exchange rate was devalued in December from 41.6 UAH/$ to 42.04 UAH/$.
