REUTERS
The National Bank of Ukraine has introduced new restrictions on the foreign exchange market, among them extending for three months, until June 3, 2015 inclusively, a ban on the early repayment of foreign currency credits and loans by residents.
The move to stabilize the hryvnia is set out in a resolution of the NBU of March 3, No. 160 “On the settlement of the situation in the monetary and foreign exchange markets of Ukraine,” which was published on the regulator’s Web site and is valid from March 4 to June 3, 2015, inclusively.
According to the report, the requirement applies to cases of the early execution of the resident borrower's obligations under the principal amount of the loan and other payments.
The decree also provides for a total ban on money outflows in the form of dividends from the country.
As UNIAN reported earlier, starting from March 4, the National Bank of Ukraine made a decision to extend the rule on mandatory sale of 75% of foreign currency proceeds for exporters, as well as to increase the discount rate to 30% per annum.
The restrictions are designed to stop the rapid devaluation of the hryvnia, which, since the transition by the NBU to a flexible rate fixing in the currency market in 2014 and two months in 2015 has depreciated against the US dollar at the official rate by 3.8 times, reaching a new historic low of 30.01 UAH/USD.
On March 3 the NBU set the official dollar exchange rate at UAH 24.8207 to the dollar.