Ukraine's Central Bank / Photo from UNIAN
The regulator began to regularly announce amounts of its interventions to buy foreign currency to replenish the reserves in April last year to increase the transparency of monetary policy.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to increase foreign currency purchases on the interbank foreign exchange market to US$20 million per day in the second and third quarters (Q2-Q3) of 2019 to build up the country's international reserves.
"In Q2 and Q3 2019, the National Bank plans to buy up to US$20 million a day to increase the international reserves. This is US$5 million more compared to the quantitative indicator that has been in effect since February 2019," the NBU said on its website.
Read alsoNBU revises upwards forecast for Ukraine's international reserves in 2019
At the same time, the National Bank stressed that the purchase of up to US$20 million per day will not have a significant impact on the situation on the interbank market.
The regulator says that the sum of forex interventions may be lower or it may not enter the interbank market at all, as it will depend on the market situation.
According to the press service, since the beginning of the year, trading volumes on the interbank foreign exchange market grew by almost 40% against the background of currency liberalization and removal of a number of restrictions for businesses. It allowed the National Bank to also increase the volume of currency purchases without significantly affecting the hryvnia exchange rate.
The NBU's net forex purchases on the interbank foreign exchange market in January-April amounted to about US$ 900 million, while the official forex rate of the hryvnia, which is set by the NBU, has increased by 4% since the beginning of the year.
"The National Bank did not buy foreign currency amid fluctuations when the hryvnia was weakening, as it replenished the international reserves of Ukraine only under favorable conditions in the foreign exchange market when the currency supply was higher than demand for it," it said.
The regulator began to regularly announce amounts of its interventions to buy foreign currency to replenish the reserves in April last year to increase the transparency of monetary policy.
As UNIAN reported, the National Bank in 2018 replenished the international reserves of Ukraine through the purchase of US$1.372 billion on the interbank foreign exchange market.