News
20.01.2014
No prerequisites for hryvnia devaluation – NBU official
The reduction of prices for imported gas and Russia's opening a credit line will relieve devaluation pressure on the hryvnia, Deputy Head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Oleksiy Tkachenko has said.
"Now the trend is that the market itself is able to balance supply and demand. There are no real prerequisites for a hryvnia devaluation," he said at a round table in Kyiv.
"The regulator has all possibilities for supporting [the hryvnia]. Neither the banking system nor the economy as a whole will accept sharp fluctuations in the exchange rate," added Tkachenko.
According to him, the National Bank is constantly monitoring the situation on the interbank market.
Tkachenko noted that the peak exchange rate, recorded in 2014, was due to the statement about instability previously announced by politicians.
"We should note the wisdom of our population, which is less prone to panic," he said.
The NBU deputy head said that panic harms not only banks but also depositors: the banks' individual customers lose both due to early withdrawal of deposits and because of buying foreign currency at the overvalued rate.
Tkachenko also noted that the country's banks today more focus on profit from lending rather than earnings from currency fluctuations.
"Actually there is a balance between supply and demand, despite the fact that ending funds on correspondent accounts are UAH 5-6 billion higher," the NBU official said.
