Ukraine's central bank sells US$157.5 mln more than buys over week

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) sold US$200 million on the interbank foreign exchange market from September 30 to October 4, which was $157.5 million more than it bought.

Read alsoUkrainians sell US$88.8 mln more currency than they buy in Sept 2019

Last week, the regulator resumed sales of foreign currency for the first time after an almost two-month break, the NBU said on its website on October 7.

However, the central bank's purchases of foreign currency have exceeded sales by almost nine times, or by $3.751 billion, since the beginning of the year, the report said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank in September 2019 bought $300 billion on the interbank forex market to replenish the country's international reserves.

Last week, the regulator resumed interventions on the interbank forex market to sell foreign currency after an almost two-month break and sold $200 million to prop up the hryvnia. The NBU says that excess forex fluctuations in early October were caused by a decrease in the supply of currency with a simultaneous increase in demand under the influence of psychological factors.

Experts attribute the recent weakening of the hryvnia to a decline in foreign currency injections by non-residents into domestic government bonds, but yet they see no reason for a drastic weakening of the hryvnia since foreign currency earnings from grain exports remain high.