NBU eases banks' borrowing from non-residents

The National Bank of Ukraine has expanded opportunities for banks to obtain from non-residents "synthetic" loans in the national currency, where the actual currency is the Ukrainian hryvnia, while all transactions between lenders and borrowers are made in foreign currency.

As reported on the NBU website with reference to Resolution No. 12, effective from Feb 16, banks will now be able to receive such loans from any non-resident creditors without their registration or an individual NBU license, while earlier such loans could be attracted only from international financial organizations.

Read alsoNBU strengthens official forex rate to UAH 26.65 to dollarThe central bank noted that the funds would be used by Ukrainian banks to lend to Ukrainian borrowers in hryvnias, while the foreign currency risk will be borne by non-resident lenders.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank from Dec 30, 2017, allowed banks to issue export foreign currency loans to foreign buyers of goods of Ukrainian origin, while earlier Ukrainian banks could only issue foreign currency loans to foreign borrowing banks.