UNIAN
The National Bank of Ukraine will on Friday raise the discount rate to 19.5%, up from 14%, with a corresponding adjustment to interest rates on active and passive operations, the director of the Department of monetary policy and economic analysis of the NBU Serhiy Mykolaichuk told journalists on Thursday.
"The decision has been taken by the Monetary Committee and approved by the NBU board," Mykolaichuk said.
Earlier, the NBU said it would introduce a single exchange rate for the hryvnia from Thursday, scrapping the daily indicative official rate it previously issued. The official rate has often been widely out of synch with actual market rates, and bankers say they expect a sharp rise in the exchange rate, to around UAH 21 to the dollar, once the official rate is scrapped.
The hryvnia has been rising steadily in recent days, and on Wednesday exceeeded UAH 17 to the dollar on the interbank exchange for the first time in the currency’s 18-year history.