Photo from UNIAN
The deterioration of sentiment in the financial markets is more likely caused by the psychological factor over the coronavirus spread.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) says demand for foreign currency continues to substantially prevail over supply, but the regulator has actively smoothed exchange rate fluctuations for the second day in a row, having sold about US$350 million on the interbank foreign exchange market on March 11.
Read alsoCoronavirus outbreak is bad news for Ukraine's economy – The Daily Signal
The deterioration of sentiment in the financial markets is more likely caused by the psychological factor over the coronavirus spread, the NBU wrote on Facebook on March 11.
The central bank still considers the impact of the epidemic on Ukraine neutral in terms of economic indicators since a slight drop in prices for Ukrainian exports is offset by cheaper imports, primarily those of energy.
"The National Bank has a sufficient margin of safety to smooth out excessive fluctuations caused by nervous moods. Today, Ukraine's international reserves exceed US$26 billion, so we are ready, if necessary, to continue carrying out interventions to sell foreign currency," the regulator added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank on Tuesday, March 10, sold US$270 million on the interbank foreign exchange market, which helped stabilize the hryvnia.
The regulator set the official forex rate for Thursday, March 12, at UAH 25.62 to the U.S. dollar, as well as at UAH 29.05 to the euro.